The Kamehameha Schools – Hawai‘i boys volleyball team emerged triumphant from a five-set scrap with Castle High during the first round of the Hawaii High School Athletic Association (HHSAA) Division I state championship on Monday night in Kea‘au.
The Warriors punched their ticket to the quarterfinals, which will begin Thursday on O‘ahu. KSH will take on No. 1 seed and undefeated Interscholastic League of Honolulu (ILH) champion Punahou School (13-0) on the Buffanblu’s home court.
On the other side of the bracket, No. 3 seed and BIIF DI champion Hilo High will play against unseeded KS-Kapalama on the Warriors’ home court. KSK advanced to the quarterfinals after beating Campbell High 3-1 on Monday night.
The other two quarterfinal matchups will be: No. 2 Moanalua High vs. Roosevelt High — and No. 4 KS-Maui vs. Mililani High.
The final-four matchups will take place Friday evening at Punahou School, and the finals are slated for 7 p.m. Saturday at Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu.
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KS-HAWAI‘I 3 – CASTLE 2
The Warriors dominated the fifth set 15-8 to cap off a leap-frogging struggle with Castle High — of Kaneohe, O‘ahu — and punch their ticket to the DI state quarterfinals.
“We made a lot of errors,” KSH head coach Sam Thomas said. “Castle is a team that seems to be very similar to ours, and we made too many errors. We were lucky in the fifth set, it looked like fatigue had set in on Castle’s side. We had run 13 different players in the match — and I think we held up a little bit better in the end there.”
The Warriors combined for 36 attack errors, eight service errors, three receiving errors and five block errors throughout the five sets.
“(The Knights) seem to be a defensive team,” Thomas said. “A lot of the balls we hit hard, they got up. They seem to cover a lot of court.”
A three-headed monster of Loheau Boshard, Nainoa Paio and Kullen Pua led the Warriors’ hitting — combining for a grand total 50 kills, split mostly evenly between the trio. Boshard was the most accurate, hitting .379.
Paio and Boshard also each made five and four blocks, respectively. Tainoa Latiti contibuted five blocks, while Kaha‘i Helm notched three and Kala Maka‘ike made two to round off the team at 20 total blocks.
Lansyn Apigo led KSH’s backcourt defense with 39 digs, supplemented by Pua, who notched 12.
Jayson Nakata led with a whopping 38 assists, trailed by Kalena Launiu’s 28.
Castle won the O‘ahu Interscholastic Association’s (OIA) DI championship third-place consolation match over Campbell High in five sets last week. The Knights finished 12-3 overall and 12-2 in the OIA.
Next up for the Warriors: Punahou — which ripped through its season int the ILH to enter the playoffs 13-0 and in the top seed.
“At this stage of the game, I think we are what we are,” Thomas said. “We can talk about what we should be doing — and hopefully, we’ll get a little more consistent — but as far as major changes, that’s not really for us.
“Punahou’s got a lot of experience, a lot of hitters, a lot of talent. (Head coach) Rick Tune is a friend of mine, and a great coach — they’re very disciplined. It’s gonna be a tall task for us, but one that we relish. I mean, who doesn’t want to go up against the No. 1 seed?”
Wining Monday’s round also gave KSH an extra life in the tournament. If the Warriors fall to Punahou, they will be able to continue playing in the fifth-place consolation bracket.
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MILILANI 3 – AIEA 1
OIA runner-up Mililani High made relatively quick work of ‘Aiea High, defeating Na Ali‘i in four sets — 25-16, 25-18, 18-25 and 25-15.
‘Aiea placed No. 6 in the OIA playoffs, falling to Roosevelt High in a fifth-place match last week.
The Trojans (13-1) will next face Maui Interscholastic League (MIL) DI champion and No. 4 seed KS-Maui (14-1). The Warriors beat Maui High in a narrow, five-set MIL DI title match last week.
The winner of the matchup between Mililani and KSM will play in the semifinals on Friday against the winner of Punahou vs. KS-Hawai‘i. The losers of each match will play against each other in the first round of the fifth-place consolation bracket.
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KS-KAPALAMA 3 – CAMPBELL 0
ILH runner-up KSK made quick work of OIA’s fourth-place finisher, Campbell High — dispatching the Sabers in straight sets of 25-13, 25-17 and 25-15 on Monday in Kapalama.
KSK (11-5) will next be tested against the team that beat their sister school in the BIIF finale — No. 3 Hilo High (12-1).
The Vikings — who received a first round bye — will face a Warriors squad on its second straight playoff homestand.
The winner of KSK vs. Hilo will go to the semifinals and play against the winner of Moanalua vs. Roosevelt.
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ROOSEVELT 3 – MAUI 1
The Roughriders handled the Sabers with first, second and fourth set wins of 25-17, 25-19 and 26-24 to offset Maui’s 25-23 third-set win on Monday night in Honolulu.
Roosevelt (12-4) will try against OIA champion Moanalua (14-0) in the quarterfinals. The Roughriders last played Na Menehune mid-April, and were swept in sets of 25-11, 25-9 and 25-14