HHSAA D2 BOYS VOLLEYBALL
Mid-Pacific comes together to beat Waipahu
IF YOU BELIEVE in seedings, then last night's victory by Mid-Pacific over Waipahu would be considered an upset.
Just don't tell the Owls that.
Junior co-captain Reese Haine put down a match-high 10 kills as the Owls outhit Waipahu .349 to .115 in defeating the third-seeded Marauders 25-18, 25-23 to advance to the semifinals of the Hawaii High School Athletic Association Division II boys state volleyball championships yesterday at Hemmeter Fieldhouse.
The Owls will face Seabury Hall, who stunned No. 2 seed Hilo, in tonight's first semifinal game at 6:30. Waipahu will face the Vikings in a 5 p.m. consolation game.
The Owls opened last night's game the aggressors, as tough serves had the Marauders defense scrambling throughout the first game. Jaren Mauricio had two of the four Owls aces in the game as Mid-Pacific hit an astounding .526.
"We're finally playing to our potential and firing on all cylinders," Haine said. "We've played the toughest competition all season long and it has helped us for this."
The Owls lost two players from the regular season who attend University Lab School. The ILH allows the schools to mix players to put together a team for its season, but it is not allowed in state tournaments.
"It definitely affects us, but fortunately we picked up a couple of guys from JV who have helped us," Owls coach Mason Kuo said. "We're still trying to find that chemistry and it's just a matter of getting them to gel with each other."
Each team committed six hitting errors, five service errors, and had zero aces, but still found themselves tied at 22 in the second game. A kill by Blake Hixson put the Owls up one, and after hitting errors by both teams made the score 24-23, Tyler Doo put down the match-winning kill after a Waipahu player touched the ball that was headed out.
"It was evident that whoever had better ball control was going to win," Kuo said. "As long as we don't have too many mental errors and play our game, we'll be fine."
Paul Fai and Malosi Saolotoga led the Marauders with five kills while Saolotoga and Ricky Rapanut each recorded two blocks.
Aiea 2, Hawaii Baptist 1
Hawaii Baptist became the third of four seeded teams to be knocked off in the quarterfinals as Pili Taitin and Troy Uyeshiro combined on a block for the game's final point to lead Na Alii over the top-seeded Eagles 25-23, 20-25, 25-23. Aiea will face Kapaa in tonight's second semifinal at 8 p.m.
Taitin finished with a match-high 21 kills, and Michael Tabarejo had 11 kills and 14 digs for Aiea. Dominic Hart put down 12 kills and Landon Herder added 11 for Hawaii Baptist, which plays Hana in a consolation game today at 3:30 p.m.
Kapaa 2, Hana 0
Chaz Galvez and Lyndon Pascual each had six kills as the Warriors outhit the Dragons .250 to .065 in winning in straight sets, 25-17, 25-23.
Louis Hoopaii III and Harold Kaiwi each had four kills for Hana who put down just 13 kills compared to 26 for Kapaa. The Warriors to play Aiea tonight at 8.
Seabury Hall 2, Hilo 0
The Spartans outhit Hilo .357 to .100 in upsetting the second-seeded Vikings 25-22, 25-17.
Tye Perdido and Kellen Ferguson had six kills apiece while Ferguson recorded three blocks for the Spartans who put down five aces compared to none for Hilo. The Vikings got a match-high eight kills from Kalaipono Kalauli-Rowe.
Kau 2, Honokaa 1
Mikhail Graig had 16 kills and five blocks and Dustin Salmo added eight kills as the Trojans beat the Dragons 25-17, 24-26, 25-20 in yesterday's consolation match.
Komokana Fernandez led Honokaa with 10 kills, five digs, and three blocks.