McKinley topples No. 8 Moanalua

McKinley is on its way up.

The Tigers earned home-court advantage in the first round of next week’s Oahu Interscholastic Association Red boys volleyball playoffs with a 27-26, 21-25, 15-13 victory over No. 8 Moanalua at Kaimuki on Thursday night.

A match of wild momentum swings finally went the way of the third-place Tigers (9-2) when 6-foot-5 senior hitter Jerry Wu went cross-court for the match-winner, stymying an 8-3 Na Menehune run that had threatened extra points.

"There’s a part of us that’s always a little nervous, because we’ve been in these situations before," Wu said. "And I don’t know why, for some magical reason we tend to lose the lead. But this time we pushed through, and we can learn from this and be a better team."

The collective experience of last year’s OIA White champion is starting to pay off in its first year in the Red. Thirteen of 15 players on the Tigers roster are seniors, and most have been together for four years.

These Tigers had never beaten Moanalua — until Thursday. Na Menehune have been the class of the OIA, having won the Red the past two years and the White the two before that. McKinley will try to replicate its predecessor’s feat starting Tuesday against a West team.

"We definitely can make a lot of noise," said Wu, who was out injured all but four sets of the OIA season. "I don’t think McKinley has been given the respect I feel we deserve as a good volleyball program. This year we’re going to try to prove that."

Wu, a former middle blocker, had a match-high 11 kills to lead the Tigers, mostly off the fingertips of setter Devin Lee.

McKinley answered Moanalua’s staunch net defense (nine blocks) with a sound service game. The Tigers had 10 aces, including five by Landon Akau.

"This is by far the toughest match we had all year," McKinley coach Chad Giesseman said. "All year long we’ve had some great matches but we’ve lost in the end. It just feels really good to finally come out on top, especially against a great team like Moanalua who’s well-coached and very disciplined."

Moanalua (8-3) played inspired for stretches but was dealt its second straight defeat. Na Menehune rebounded with a sweep of host Kaimuki in the three-team nightcap, but the loss to McKinley dropped them to fourth in the East.

Austin Matautia, a 6-foot freshman, had nine kills and the senior Tahiarri Caldwell eight to lead Na Menehune. Senior setter Zarin Austiro had 25 assists in the loss.