Waipahu had the bye, but Moanalua had a bigger advantage by being on Waipahu’s side of the bracket.

Na Menehune earned their annual playoff win over the Marauders at Waipahu on Thursday night, handing previously unbeaten Waipahu a 25-17, 25-15, 25-15 loss. Moanalua has knocked Waipahu out of the winner’s bracket in the OIA tournament every year since 2008.

“We always play Moanalua and they always beat us,” Waipahu coach Julna Pasicaran said. “I don’t know, we have to do better. How do you challenge a team that is mostly club players? For what we have, I think we did a lot of good. It’s just too bad someone has to lose today.”

Waipahu (10-1) went through the entire regular season in the West without losing a set, but it took Moanalua (10-3) about a rotation and a half to make it clear that Waipahu was about to do all of its losing all at once. Waipahu got through its first rotation trailing 11-8, but by the time its second rotation finished, the Marauders trailed 23-15. Moanalua closed out the first set on Austin Matautia’s fourth kill. Tahi Caldwell led Moanalua with six kills in the first set.

“We knew it was going to be a difficult game,” Caldwell said. “They came out real tough and contested us for the first 15 points, but communication took us to the top. When we communicate we are pretty good.”

Matautia led Na Menehune with 16 kills and Caldwell contributed 15. Waipahu rode the arm of Luuga Vailuu, who had 12 of the Marauders’ 23 kills but was forced into seven errors.

The second set was the same as the first, with the home team hanging around to trail 14-12 after its first rotation but being outscored 10-3 thereafter.

Moanalua didn’t give Waipahu a chance to breathe in the third set, earning the first five points and never letting the margin get lower than three. Matautia ended the match by rising over the defense and pounding a kill to the floor. He didn’t have an error after the middle of the second set.

“He has such a good vertical we try to tell him he should be hitting over people,” Moanalua coach Alan Cabantang said. “He is starting to do it and it makes us better.”

No. 10 Moanalua moves on to play No. 9 Kaiser at 6 p.m. Tuesday at McKinley in the semifinal of the winner’s bracket. The Cougars beat Roosevelt 25-14, 25-19, 25-20 preceding Moanalua’s win, and swept Na Menehune in the regular season earlier this month. “They are real tough, real tall and real physical,” Caldwell said of the rematch with the Cougars. “But once again, communication and playing together as a unit is key.”

Waipahu plays Roosevelt on Tuesday at Kaimuki. The Marauders will have to beat the Rough Riders and win one more match to return to the state tournament. Moanalua can get in with a win over Kaiser but can lose and win one match on the back end of the bracket and still get in. But the two-time defending OIA champions are thinking title first.

“The good thing is we are peaking at the right time,” Cabantang said. “Everybody is better at this stage of the season, but if we take care of our side things should work out.”

OIA Tournament
Varsity boys
McKinley def. Leilehua 12-25, 22-25, 25-18, 25-18, 16-14
Kalaheo def. Kahuku 25-12, 25-14, 25-13