OIA Boys Volleyball
No. 4 Moanalua sweeps Roosevelt to cap undefeated OIA East season


  



Tue, Apr 16, 2024 @ Moanalua [ 6:30 pm ]


FINAL  1   2   3   4   5      
MOA (13-0) 25 25 25 - - 3
ROOS (10-4) 11 9 14 - - 0
Kill: J. Bush (MOA) 15 kills
Blk: L. Jones (MOA) 3 blk
Ast: D. Wilcox (MOA) 26 ast

SALT LAKE — Jaycen Bush placed 15 kills and No. 4 Moanalua sent off seven seniors in style by sweeping Roosevelt 25-11, 25-9, 25-14 in the OIA East Division I regular season finale for both teams at Na Menehune's gymnasium Tuesday.

For a third year in a row, Na Menehune (11-0) finished on top the East Division standings with a perfect record. It dropped the third set to No. 10 Castle back on Mar. 12 but swept the rest of the competition.

"The boys really executed the game plan tonight. We've been working on as our group is concerned, granted there are three or four seniors on court. This group has not been as a team together, we lost a lot of seniors last year. They're learning to become their own. As we progressed through the season, they're really coming into their own. Jaycen especially, Malu has been solid for us since his freshman year. D'Lo (Ross) and Luke coming into that middle position. We're clicking at the right time," Moanalua coach Alan Cabanting said.

The Rough Riders won five of their last seven matches and finished the regular season in third place with a 8-3 record.

Outside hitter and three-year starter Bush did most of his damage from the left side with 15 kills and a block to lead Na Menehune.

"Being an outside hitter, you're one of the go-to people. One of the most consistent people on the court and people come to you for scoring points. I'll give credit where credit is due, the right side and the middle showed up today. Everyone did great," Bush said.

Chico Rowan added nine kills, and D'Angelo Ross with five kills from the middle.

Malu Wilcox guided the offense with 26 assists and Kaden Sato chipped in five assists. Luke Jones landed three of the team's six service aces.

"Malu is great. I love him so much. I'v been with him five years now. We've been playing in school and in club, year round, we have a lot of chemistry and connection. Malu is the glue of this team and he's so important to the team. A lot of our success wouldn't be there without him," Bush said of Wilcox.

"He wants to distribute to everyone evenly. It was one of those nights, the matchup was outside and I'm like, ‘Hey buddy, we have to set up that outside.' Jaycen and Chico just go with it and we set up the middle every now and then, but the matchup was on the outside," Cabanting added.

Ford Lyons, who has 119 kills on the season, led the Rough Riders with nine kills. Trace Nakaahiki added five kills and Roman Felipe (286 assists on the season) and Steven Wong combined for 15 assists.

Moanalua found success from the left side of the court as Rowan placed a kill from Wilcox to double up Roosevelt, 14-7. Bush landed back-to-back kills to ignite an 8-0 run and Na Menehune capitalized on Rough Rider miscues to close out the first set.

In the second set Lyons kept Roosevelt within two, but Moanalua pulled away as Sato found Bush for a pair of kills and Jonathan Yadao's attack sailed out of bounds to force a timeout after trailing 10-4. Jones put Na Menehune ahead by nine after his ace. Roosevelt got within seven, but could not get any closer as Moanalua went up by double digits to wrap up the second set on a 9-1 run.

"Our level of focus and maturity and our level of our energy. If you can keep the energy on our side, so no matter what would happen the energy would stay on our side and we would stay a lot more focused. I feel like it's a maturity thing, my team, they matured so much throughout the year, I'm proud of them," Bush said.

"The weakness on their side unfortunately was when their setter was in the front row and we were going to exploit that. It didn't matter if we were going to be outside heavy, we were going to exploit that matchup. Our two pins were able to hit over and around the block that Roosevelt had," Cabanting said.

Roosevelt took an early lead to start the third set, but Moanalua tied it up and took the lead on an attack error. Lyons and Nakaahiki kept the Rough Riders within striking distance, but Moanalua went on a 7-0 run that included three kills from Rowan and Jones placed his third ace.

"Our serving was really on tonight. Roosevelt's two pin hitters are really good. Because we served really well, they never really had a chance to get into rhythm. That was key to our serving," Cabanting said.

Nakaahiki broke up Na Menehune's scoring run with a kill and Lyons strung together a mini scoring run to get Roosevelt within 10, but Jones converted Wilcox's final assist to end the match.

Moanalua celebrated its seniors Sato, Kai Isono, Rowan, Bush, Lucas Filisi, Trevor Kwak, and Ross with its postgame festivities.

"It was so awesome. I really love being here and love the family and support in my final game of my high school career at home. I don't think it could've gone any better," Bush said.

Na Menehune join No. 6 Kamehameha-Maui (9-0), No. 5 Mililani (10-0), and No. 1 Punahou (10-0) as the remaining undefeated teams in Division I.



Reach Brandon Ching at [email protected].




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