Huntington Beach rolls past HBA in Clash final

Hawaii Baptist Academy Eagle's Isaac Liva hits past a block by Huntington Beach Oiler's Alex Wolf, left and Joshua Tuaniga in the Clash of the Titans boys volleyball tournament at Punahou School in Honolulu on Saturday, April 11, 2015.

Hawaii Baptist Academy's Isaac Liva blocks against Huntington Beach Oiler's TJ DeFalco in the Clash of the Titans boys volleyball tournament at Punahou School in Honolulu on Saturday, April 11, 2015.

Hawaii Baptist Academy's head coach Teoni Obrey leads his team against Huntington Beach Oilers in the Clash of the Titans boys volleyball tournament at Punahou School in Honolulu on Saturday, April 11, 2015.

Hawaii Baptist Academy Brett Miller, left and Nicolas Caballes block against Huntington Beach Oiler's Eroc Beatty in the Clash of the Titans boys volleyball tournament at Punahou School in Honolulu on Saturday, April 11, 2015.

Hawaii Baptist Academy Eagle's Isaac Liva hits against Huntington Beach Oiler's TJ DeFalco, left and David Kim in the Clash of the Titans boys volleyball tournament at Punahou School in Honolulu on Saturday, April 11, 2015.

Hawaii Baptist Academy Eagle's Isaac Liva hits against Huntington Beach Oiler's Shane Holdaway in the Clash of the Titans boys volleyball tournament at Punahou School in Honolulu on Saturday, April 11, 2015.






Consistency and camaraderie have been just two of the factors in Huntington Beach’s 88-match win streak.
Having powerful hitters headed to Division I college programs definitely helps as well.
The nation’s top boys volleyball team from California swept Hawaii Baptist 25-18, 25-20, 25-19 at the Clash of the Titans on Saturday at Hemmeter Fieldhouse. The Oilers are ranked first in the nation according to the MaxPreps site and have not lost since 2013.
“The camaraderie we have, we’ve all played together for a while,” said Huntington Beach’s Ben Vaught, a left-handed opposite hitter who had five kills and will play at the University of Hawaii next season. “We know each other’s strengths and weaknesses and we all try to play off each other’s strengths.”
TJ DeFalco, who is headed to Long Beach State with setter Josh Tuaniga, had 13 kills to lead the Oilers. Eric Beatty and David Kim added six kills each.
“It’s not worrying about the streak,” said Tuaniga, who finished with 36 assists and five aces. “It’s focusing on the next point, next game. Zero-zero, that’s our record right now. Going into games, we know we’ll get everybody’s best and we have a big target on our back.”
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Isaac Liva had 17 kills for Hawaii Baptist, which stayed with Huntington Beach early in each set. But the Eagles struggled playing out of system and couldn’t stop hitters who range from 6-foot-4 to 6-foot-7. The final result was a major improvement from its 25-10, 25-16 loss to Huntington Beach in March at the Best of the West Invitational in San Diego.
“We want our kids to be aggressive (hitting), but make sure our coverage is there,” said Hawaii Baptist coach Teoni Obrey. “That’s what we’ve been practicing the past couple weeks, but to simulate it in practice is a little bit different than in the game time.”
The Eagles, who have two 6-4 hitters but also two 5-8 players in the front row, outblocked Huntington Beach 4-2. Nicolas Caballes, the Eagles’ 5-8 outside, had two blocks. BJ Hosaka had 25 assists.
“It’s really good for us. We don’t normally see this level of play in Hawaii,” Liva said.
At 6-5, DeFalco had no problem slamming down kills over blockers during the two-day tournament. He can elevate out of the back while attacking, and Obrey thinks he’s national-team material.
“He’s all-world,” Obrey said. “It’s kind of a privilege for our boys to play against somebody like that. We’ll be seeing him playing in the national team.”
Huntington Beach’s Davis Gillett is headed to UCLA with Punahou’s Micah Ma‘a. Alex Wolf, the Oilers’ 6-7 middle, will play water polo at UCLA. Vaught is coming to Hawaii with teammate James Anastassiades.
“The fans, they are are the most supportive of all volleyball teams,” Vaught. “I grew up watching Long Beach State — it’s five minutes from my house. They’ll get family and friends, but in Hawaii, you get everyone who really enjoys the sport. It’s very awesome.”
MIRA COSTA (CALIF.) 3, PUNAHOU 2
Ranked third in the nation, the Mustangs held off the state’s top-ranked team 25-18, 25-20, 19-25, 18-25, 15-13. Punahou’s reserves fueled an inspiring rally as Ethan Siegfried had nine kills off the bench and Sam Bradley had six kills and four blocks.
The Buffanblu served tough to take Sets 3 and 4. Mira Costa led 13-12 in Set 5 after a Punahou service error. Micah Ma‘a’s kill tied it at 13, but Punahou served out and Blake Markland’s kill ended the match. Ma‘a finished with 11 kills and three aces. Punahou outblocked Mira Costa 11.5 to 3.
Punahou is 7-5 in the tournament that pits California and Hawaii’s top teams.