Moanalua's Austin Matautia had a game-high 18 kills to help Na Menehune rally past Kahuku in three sets. Peter Caldwell | SL

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03161637_1603_KahukuMoa_164a.jpg - Peter Caldwell | SL

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SALT LAKE—Moanalua overcame mental errors and fatigue as they rallied past Kahuku, 23-25, 25-18, 19-17 in an Oahu Interscholastic Association East division game at the Na Menehune's gymnasium on Tuesday night.

"This was a big win for us. Coming back from California to play in that huge tournament, it took a lot out of us. It drained our energy and Kahuku took advantage of it. Something I'm happy we did was we stick together and fought through it," said Austin Matautia, a University of Hawaii commit.

The Na Menehune improve to 3-0 in league play and returned last night from the prestigious Best of the West Boys Volleyball Invitational in San Diego, Calif.

"I think the big reasons why we went to the Best of the West was to play at a high level for a longer period of time. I think with the last two sets, the last set especially, we hung in there and just played high level volleyball to put the ball away," said Moanalua coach Alan Cabanting.

Austin Matautia led Moanalua with 18 kills and Zach Miyamoto had 23 assists. Keaunui Ah You led the team with seven kills, Micah Maiava, Ala Tito, and Hinkley Latu each added five kills. Cameron Renaud led the Red Raiders with 12 assists.

Both teams traded points early on until Moanalua took a 16-13 lead and pushed it to, 19-14 after Matautia's service ace. However, Kahuku went on a 4-1 run as Moanalua called timeout. The Na Menehune were plagued by mental errors and break downs as Kahuku took advantage.

"We're not going to make excuses for it," said Cabanting, on possible jetlag. "We should've played a lot cleaner than this. That's what I was telling the boys, everyone is gunning for you. You're going to have a big bullseye. There were a lot of mistakes and errors." 

The Na Menehune led, 22-18 before the Red Raiders went on a spirited 4-0 run to tie the game. Ah You tied the game at 23 before the Red Raiders scored the next two points to steal the first set, 25-23.

"Hitting every ball we can, passing every ball, hitting the floor and going for everything," said Kahuku coach Kaniela Kalama. "I'm proud of these guys not going to consider this a loss, I think we're going in the right direction."

The second set had a similar start to the first until Moanalua started to pull away later in the set. Seyj Engleman contributed four of his eight kills in the set. The Na Menehune created separation led, 20-15 and weren't threatened to take set two, 25-18.

The Na Menehune jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the third set and led, 12-8. Kahuku showed a lot of heart as they cut the deficit to one after Tito's kill prompting Moanalua to call a timeout. Moanalua could not seem to put the Red Raiders away as Kahuku answered each point to tie the game. Moanalua turned to Matautia, who had seven kills in the set. With the game tied at 17, Matautia landed a kill and Miyamoto and Nalu Demello combined for the block to win the set.

"Knowing that we were all tired, we had to make the little things count. Everyone had to step up. Kahuku is a good team and their defense was phenomenal. It shows that we have to fight for it," said Matautia.