Moanalua's Austin Matautia puts down a kill attempt past the Roosevelt block. Peter Caldwell | SL

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032114_1205_Moa-Roosevelt_069.JPG - Peter Caldwell | SL

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Moanalua (8-0) routed Roosevelt (7-2) in two sets, 25-12, 25-5 in an O'ahu Interscholastic Association Red East matchup on Senior Night at Moanalua High School on Thursday night. Senior Dustin Carrier led the Na Menehune with six kills, sophomore Austin Matautia had five kills and senior setter Skylan Engleman led the way with 11 assists. 

"I just try to do what I can for my teammates. It's my job to set them up and I appreciate their hard work and effort," said Engleman. 

"Even though it's my first year here, I made so many friends and it's an honor to play with along with such great people and Senior Night shows who cares for you and everyone loves you for who you are," said Dustin Carrier, who transferred from University High. 

"I think they're figuring it out that, to be a really good team, everyone has to be okay with every single person just taking a kill, and today that's what it showed, everyone was able to do their job and do their responsibility and everyone got a kill from our attackers," said Moanalua coach Alan Cabanting, on his team's unselfishness. 

Moanalua recently used some time to do some team bonding activities and it helped bring the team a little closer and it showed on the court tonight. 

"We're getting our team chemistry and we've been playing a lot more as a team. We're just doing well on our side and eliminating our errors," said Carrier. 

"This past week, there were huge obstacles they had to overcome as a team and after they had a team bonding the other day and it brought them a lot closer and it's starting to show on the court. They're truly becoming one team and a becoming a family with each other," said Cabanting.

"The team is doing well and we had a lot of bonding experiences and we got to open up to one another and that contributed to the building the team chemistry and that you see on the court now and that's how we were able to bring the heat tonight," said Engleman. 

The six seniors that were recognized tonight are starters are that give this team an experienced group. 

"Having six seniors on the court and are part of the starting seven is a big help and people do know what they're doing and they have their own knowledge of the game and we all have a piece of the puzzle to contribute to the big picture and that's to win every game," said Engleman. 

"It's awesome, I don't have to worry about offense, what a lot of us coaches do is letting them know how they hit and what they like to hit and they're like 'yes, coach' and they're learning to execute and communicate. They know they have to work on consistency so that's what we're continuing to do every single game and I think they did that today and did it very well," said Cabanting. 

In the first set, Moanalua got off to a fast 5-0 start after Engleman passed it to Reno Young for the kill. The Na Menehune scored to make it 7-0 after the Rough Riders hit the ball into their own net and Roosevelt called timeout. 

Roosevelt managed to make it 10-6 after a kill from Nolan Pena. However, Moanalua went on a 6-0 run to extend the lead to 10 after a service ace from Victor Zamudio to make it 16-6.  The Na Menehune outscored the Rough Riders 9-6 and Austin Matautia had a kill to close out the first set, 25-12. 

Engleman had eight of his 11 assists in the first set and Carrier had four of his six kills in the first set. 

Just like the first set, Moanalua jumped out to a big lead and Carrier had a kill to go up 8-0 and Roosevelt called a timeout. The Na Menehune went up by as much as 18 points, 21-3. Coach Cabanting was able to substitute all his seniors out, as the crowd gave each of them an ovation, to give some underclassmen playing time. 

Moanalua cruised by Kaiser earlier in the 5 p.m. game in two sets, 25-8 for both sets. Winning both matches tonight sets up an interesting battle between Kalaheo (9-0) next week on Mar. 27, who is currently first in the OIA Red East standings. 

"Kalaheo is always a good, strong team, they're tall and they got some pretty good blockers. It's definitely going to be a match coming next Thursday," said Cabanting. 

"Everyone is a good team so we always have to change the mindset for whoever we play next and especially when Kalaheo is doing really well lately and it's going to be a good matchup and I hope for a good game," added Carrier.