Iolani snaps three game skid with sweep of Mid-Pacific

Greg Yamamoto | SL

After enduring a pair of marathon losses, a straight set sweep for the Raiders might be just what the doctor ordered.

Led by a 17 kill performance by Ayden Goo, Iolani (3-5) earned the season sweep of Mid-Pacific (3-5) with a 25-13, 27-25, 25-19 win, snapping a three-game skid in the process, which included dropping consecutive five set matches to Hawaii Baptist and Punahou.

"Coming into this game, our coaches were talking about Mid-Pacific going on their run, but this is the start of our run," said Goo of the win for the Raiders, which as he alluded to, also put an end to a three-game win streak for the Owls, which featured wins over Saint Louis, University Lab and Kamehameha.

"(Coach Jordan) expected us to be in a dog fight, (for it to) go to five (sets), but we came in here and just shut things down," said Goo. "We had to have the sweep."

Truth be told, though, this game easily could have gone the distance.

With the score tied at 18-all in a closely contested third set, the home team strung together a trio of points, punctuated by a Goo kill from just beyond the three meter line that forced the Owls to call for time. Coming out of that timeout it was Goo once again, this time at the back line, where he served up an ace to make 22-18, and followed that up with another kill that made it 23-18.

"All credit to the passing man, like coming into this game passing has been one of our struggles this year," remarked Goo. "But these past couple of games and throughout the HBVI (tournament) our passing has been really good."

Mid-Pacific got a point back before a Noa Yamashiroya kill from the right side got the Raiders to aloha ball and on the very next point it was Bryson Leung who put the game away via another ace, the sixth of the match for Iolani.

The Owls, who were without the services of setter Nikola Miocinovic and middle Tripp Lee due to illness, still gave the Raiders all they wanted, especially in set two, where they led until the midpoint, buoyed by two aces by Sava Miocinovic that gave the Owls a lift in the early stages. The Raiders reached the 20 point mark of set two first, but saw the Owls rally via a 4-0 scoring spurt to take a 23-21 lead on a tandem block by Miocinovic and Karch Cho-Tupua.

Ultimately, the Raiders got to set point on a Yamashiroya kill and then took set two after the Owls were called for an illegal backrow attack.

Set one went the way of the home team rather easily, as four blocks in the set alone helped to set the tone. Establishing the middle attack for Iolani also was a factor, with Declan Beckette and Thomas Waters chipping in 12 kills while combining for seven of the teams 13 total blocks in the match.

"Our middles kind of create the flow of the offense, even Noa on the opposite too," said Goo. "Being able to spread out the ball and all of us being able to kll the ball makes it easier."

Sava Miocinovic had 13 kills, two blocks and a pair of aces to pace the Owls, while freshman setter Kai McDevitt had a match-high 34 assists and added an ace leading the Raiders' offensive attack.

"He actually started the year as our libero," said Iolani head coach Jordan Inafuku of McDevitt. "We've had a bunch of underclassmen do a bunch of things for us and he's one example of that, and he's working hard like the rest of his teammates. He's following the lead of his upperclassmen, but yeah, we have a lot of confidence in his ability."

Iolani will attempt to string together consecutive regular season wins for the first time this year when it hosts Saint Louis on Wednesday, while Mid-Pacific will welcome top-ranked Punahou to its home gym on Friday.