Hawaii Baptist outplays Hana to win fifth straight D-II title

From start to finish, anything the Hana Dragons tried to do, the Hawaii Baptist Eagles simply did better.

HBA stymied upset-minded Hana 25-10, 25-15, 25-11 on Saturday night in the final of the New City Nissan/HHSAA Boys Volleyball Division II State Championships at Blaisdell Arena. It was the fifth D-II state title in a row for Hawaii Baptist, and its seventh in the past eight years.

"It’s 16 individual personalities coming together for something very positive," HBA coach Teoni Obrey said.

HBA’s defense and setting were almost impeccable, and that led to monster spikes from 6-foot-4 juniors Isaac Liva and Caleb Fisher. Liva had seven kills in the first set off perfectly timed sets from senior B.J. Hosaka as the Eagles established control. He finished with a match-high 18 kills, hitting .667.

"Everyone was just pumped," Liva said as the Eagles celebrated in the locker room.

Fisher added 12 kills and an ace, and Hosaka finished with 43 assists. Brett Miller chipped in with seven kills and middle Nicolas Caballes tallied six kills. Davin Miyahara, one of HBA’s three seniors, added four kills.

Hosaka graduates in June after helping HBA win four titles.

"It feels good," the two-sport athlete said.

Libero Josh Kishaba and Caballes anchored the back row.

"Josh and Nic were awesome. Josh played a perfect game and paid great attention to detail. We were efficient today and executed," Obrey said. "Our base positioning had to be good because Hana is very crafty. We haven’t seen that style all year round. Their setter (Jordan Redo-Rost) is a pure volleyball player and caught us with a few dumps, but we were able to pick up most of them."

Redo-Rost, one of two seniors, led Hana (12-4) with six kills and nine assists. Hana, with one of the smallest enrollments in the state, was chasing its first state title in boys volleyball. The group of eight players has been together through the 8-man football season and basketball season.

"Their hitting. It was tough. We had a hard time blocking 15 (Liva). He was firing up," Redo-Rost said. "Our blockers were a little bit late. That’s OK. We made sure we had fun."

Senior Noah Hoopai-Feliciano and junior Chasen Kanakaole added three kills each.

The Dragons battled back in the second set, pulling within 11-7 before HBA went on a big run.

In the third game, Hana led 4-2 and stayed close. The Dragons were down 10-8 before the Eagles went on a 15-3 run to close out the match.

A robust crowd of about 50 fans made the trek from East Maui to Blaisdell Arena.

"Hana is family. I feel good. We’re taking home a trophy," Redo-Rost said. "The community will be happy. They’ll be proud. Over the weekend, on Facebook, everything was blowing up."

Redo-Rost credited coach Kimo Helekahi for developing the team into an MIL champion.

"Without my coach, I wouldn’t be setting. He’s a very good coach," he said. "We improved, way better than last year, especially on defense."

HAWAII BAPTIST DEF. HANA 25-8, 25-15, 25-11

DRAGONS (13-4)

EAGLES (12-0)

Key — s: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct: hitting percentage; d: digs; bs: block solo; ba: block assists.
Service Aces — Hana none. Hawaii Baptist 3 (Hosaka, Fisher, Liva). Service errors — Hana 3 (Hoopai-Feliciano 2, Kalalau). Hawaii Baptist 5 (Caballes 2, Liva 2, Johnson). Assists — Hana 16 (Redo-Rost 10, Hoopai-Feliciano 2, Lecker-Tolentino, Kanakaole, Kalalau, Park). Hawaii Baptist 44 (Hosaka 39, Kishaba 5). T — 0:52 A — N/A. Referees — Darren Chun, Drew Fernandez.

OTHER D-II RESULTS

Fifth place
Ka’u def. Hawaii Prep 25-22, 25-19
Third place
Kauai def. St. Francis 26-24, 25-15

ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM

OH— Cameron Enriques, Ka’u
OH— Caleb Fisher, Hawai’i Baptist
OH— Isaac Liva, Hawai’i Baptist
MB— Brett Miller, Hawai’i Baptist
S— BJ Hosaka, Hawai’i Baptist
S— Jordan Redo-Rost, Hana
DS/Libero— Joshua Kishaba, Hawai’i Baptist

Most Outstanding Player: Isaac Liva, Hawai’i Baptist