Faumui, Liana lead Farrington to title

It has been a long time coming.

The last time Farrington won an Oahu Interscholastic Association boys volleyball title, Regan Agena, the Governors’ coach, was a year old.

That was 1971.

The Govs (10-4) finally can hang another banner. Thanks to the arms of seniors Samuel Faumui and Tyler Liana, Farrington turned back Waialua 25-19, 25-13, 18-25, 25-22 to claim the OIA White title Thursday night at McKinley High’s Student Council Gym.

Faumui had 15 kills to go along with seven aces, and Liana added 14 kills with two aces in giving Farrington the OIA’s top seed in next week’s Division II state tournament.

"It was a good win for us," Agena said after his team won its fourth straight. "(After dropping Set 3), the boys did a good job of refocusing. There might have been a little letdown, but give Waialua credit for putting us in a tough situation."

The Bulldogs (7-8) will be making the state tournament for the first time in program history. But Waialua proved it was more than "just happy to be there," particularly after senior co-captain Joshua Mendoza went down early in Set 2 with a badly sprained right ankle.

It took a while for the Bulldogs’ serve-receive to regroup without Mendoza and the Govs took advantage. Farrington had eight aces to break away from a 10-10 tie, including six by Faumui, in a 15-3 closing run.

"We never saw serving like that in the (OIA) West this year," Waialua coach Todd Cambonga said. "Every one of their players serves it tough.

"I nearly didn’t put (Mendoza) back in, but he told me, ‘Coach, I want to play.’ He’s one of our captains, our leader. I couldn’t say no."

Mendoza re-entered with the Bulldogs up 10-3 in Set 3. Waialua continued to ride the momentum behind the serving of Tyren-Jon Moniz, his ace helping to extended the lead to 15-4.

Two aces by Marco Rey Cudia helped pull Farrington to within 16-11, but the Govs couldn’t get closer than four the rest of the way.

Farrington pulled away early in Set 4 with tough serving. Two aces by Cudia and another by Faumui, along with two kills from Liana, pushed the Govs out 12-6.

Waialua hung tough, closing to 16-13 behind the serving of Jeren Dingal. With Farrington struggling with tight sets, the Bulldogs made it interesting by pulling to within one at 23-22.

But two hitting errors by Waialua, the last when Mendoza was unable to elevate on a tough angle shot, gave Farrington its third OIA championship, the first since winning the first two held by the league (1970-71).

Mendoza finished with 12 kills for Waialua. Moniz added 11 kills and was in on four blocks, while Kaimana Eguires finished with 10 digs.