Moanalua is the D-I king in OIA volleyball

Moanalua proved that 2017 was a mere hiccup.

Na Menehune swept Kaiser 25-15, 25-18, 25-11 on Wednesday at the Radford gym to again reign atop the OIA Division I boys volleyball world.

Prior to last season — when Moanalua lost in the league title game to Mililani — Na Menehune had won six straight OIA D-I volleyball titles and two D-II championships immediately before that.

To get to the final against Kaiser, Moanalua (14-0) vanquished Mililani in four sets Monday.

“We pushed all the way against Mililani and we wanted this (against Kaiser) so much and all we did was communicate and (had success) passing, serving and hitting all the time,” said Na Menehune’s Kalai Leopoldo, who had a match-high 14 kills. “We really want states (April 30 and May 3-5) and we’re really pushing really hard to get it.”

The Cougars (12-2) failed in their bid for a first OIA championship. Early in the second set, standout senior hitter Jon Stanley left with an ankle injury and that put a damper on the effort.

“He came from the back row and hit and came down on a guy covering for him underneath,” said Stanley’s father and the Kaiser coach who also is named Jon Stanley. “He twisted his ankle pretty bad and went to get X-rays. It swelled up pretty bad. Against a good team like that, it really was tough. We don’t have a lot of depth, so we had to switch up a lot of guys.”

With both teams on the attack, the first set was fairly close. Stanley had five kills in that set, but Moanalua pulled away with an 8-1 run for an 18-8 lead. Later, Caleb Casinas’ ace brought it to set point, and setter Cole Fukumitsu assisted Max Slaughter for the winner.

“Even before they lost Jon, I thought our guys played exceptionally well on how they put it together in that first set,” Na Menehune coach Alan Cabanting said.

Stanley had just one of his six kills in the second set before his injury. Without him, the Cougars kept in striking distance at 10-7 and 20-15. But Leopoldo put an end to those dreams with three kills, including the set-clincher for the 2-0 lead.

Mistakes cost the Cougars dearly in the third set and Na Menehune got out to big leads of 7-2 and 18-8. At 21-11, Moanalua closed it out with Kylan Tomita’s ace, Sili Coffin’s block and two kills by Leopoldo, including the match winner.

Kainoa Ferguson had seven kills, two blocks and two aces for Na Menehune. Slaughter and Duncan Clark added five kills each, led by the setting of Fukumitsu.

“Four of our playmakers (Fukumitsu, Ferguson, Clark and DiAeris McRaven) were role players last year,” Cabanting said. “They knew the meaning of the (league) loss, so for them to come back and take it is a great feeling.”

With setter Kalai Skeele running the offense, Kaiser’s Jacob Summers had six kills and Dylan Poole added five.