KANEOHE — The Moanalua and Kamehameha boys volleyball teams are moving on to the final four. 

Both Na Menehune and the Warriors secured their spots in the semifinal round of the New City Nissan/HHSAA Division I State Championships with sweeps of their respective opponents in Thursday's quarterfinal round. 

No. 2 Moanalua pulled away from No. 5 University Lab by set scores of 25-23, 25-23 and 25-17 in the nightcap of a doubleheader at Castle High School. In the matinee matchup, fourth-ranked Kamehameha fended off sixth-ranked Hilo 25-23, 25-18 and 25-18. 

Na Menehune (15-0) were led by junior outside hitter Jarryn "Loa" McCutcheon, who hit .571 and put down a team-high 15 kills. 

"This was a breakout game for him," Moanalua coach Alan Cabanting said of McCutcheon, who played his first two varsity seasons at Molokai before he transferred over for this season. 

"During the (regular) season, as a young hitter in this big setting, he was inconsistent, so I'm really happy for him in this one to be able to just go off and lead us through some of the points where we needed a kill and he was the one that was getting it for us," Cabanting added. 

McCutcheon had nine kills in the third set alone. He also tallied seven digs and was in on three blocks. 

The key was in the preparation, McCutcheon noted. 

"We came in and watched so much film for the past three days. We've been going in and out of the gym three hours every single day and we just executed what we had to — all our hitters were on, all our passers were passing," said McCutcheon, a 6-foot-4 opposite. 

UH Lab coach Jonah Reyes was complimentary of McCutcheon's efforts against his squad. 

"Oh, he's a great player. He's just athletic, he works hard and he can jump out of the gym and he touches really high; He's a great player," Reyes said. 

The teams were tied at 22 late in set 1 before Na Menehune scored three of the final four points to take the opening set. They traded runs in set 2, but McCutcheon clutched up in the final stretch to double up his team's lead. 

McCutcheon put down a kill from the left side to spur a set-ending 5-2 run. He went cross court from the right side off an assist from Malu Wilcox to break a 23-all tie and gave his team set point. The same pair hooked up on the very next play and McCutcheon repeated the feat to finish off set 2. 

"We were trying to go to where the matchups were and somehow it was like Malu started setting him and he was putting balls away," Cabanting said. 

While sets 1 and 2 were relatively tightly contested, set 3 was all Big Blue. 

The Jr. ‘Bows led an 8-5 advantage after Trey Ambrozich's first kill of the set, but Moanalua reeled off a 15-3 run that included five kills and two aces by McCutcheon. It was only fitting that McCutcheon finished off the match with a kill out of the middle, off a feed from Wilcox. 

Lionel Gannon had 11 kills and seven digs, while Wilcox dished out 34 assists and five digs in the win. Ezekiel Afalava-Sablan chipped in five kills, five digs and two aces for Na Menehune, who have dropped only three sets all year. 

Ambrozich hit .244 and tallied 17 kills along with seven digs for UH Lab. Koa Laboy added 11 kills, but also had 10 errors on 37 total swings. 

The duo combined for 44 kills in the Jr. ‘Bows opening-round sweep of Baldwin Monday. Slowing down the pair of pin hitters was a pivotal part of Moanalua's game plan Thursday. 

"It was a very big part," McCutcheon said. "We were trying to serve their star players to get them very tired in the beginning of the game and that was our strategy from the beginning and we knew they were only gonna go to the two big hitters that they have all game."

Ambrozich took 45 swings and LaBoy accounted for 37 of UH Lab's 96 total attacks. They were on the receiving end of 40 of Moanalua's 61 serves — LaBoy alone was targeted 34 times. 

"I think because they're playing in the ILH and all of those teams — Kamehameha, Punahou, HBA — that was probably their same game plan and so they're used to it already. The thing is we had to make sure that even though they were getting their kills, that we continued to maintain our block on them and so eventually it wore on them, but they were able to hold it for two sets before that third set where all the errors started to come," Cabanting explained. 

The Jr. ‘Bows (11-7) hit just .083 in set 3, when they committed six of their 17 attack errors. 

Conversely, Moanalua hit .259 in the third set. 

"They're a good team. We played them in the preseason, we beat ‘em, but they're a good team. They're well coached and they're the OIA perennial powerhouse for a reason," Reyes said. "They're not a team that you're going to walk all over and they're not a team you can make mistakes with and it just didn't work out tonight for us."

UH Lab hit .167 for the match. It was 61 of 68 on serve-reception (.910). 

"We didn't pass well and there's no excuse. We didn't pass well and they served well," Reyes said. 

Whereas Ambrozich and LaBoy combined to take more than 85 percent of the Jr. ‘Bows swings, Wilcox spread his sets around to his multitude of weapons. Gannon took 32 swings, Afalava-Sablan 30, McCutcheon 21 and middles Luke Jones and Taylor Chung had five attempts apiece. 

"I like how spread out our offense is because it leaves us open in certain places and I love it," McCutcheon said. 

Despite the loss, Reyes was proud of the fight his players had until the very end. UH Lab moved up to Division I this spring after it captured the D2 state crown a year ago. 

"Our goal was to compete at a higher level and I think we accomplished that. Unfortunately this game just didn't end our way, (but) that's how it is," said Reyes, whose team finished third in the ILH behind perennial powers Punahou and Kamehameha. 

Moanalua has reached the semifinal round in six straight state tournaments dating back to 2018. 

Kamehameha is also no stranger to the final four. It will be making its fourth consecutive semifinals appearance and has played for a state title two years in a row. 

The Warriors (14-6) got there with a straight-set victory over the third-seeded Vikings (14-1) in the 5 p.m. quarterfinal at Castle on Thursday. 

Conor Williams led the way with 17 kills. The 5-foot-10 senior outside hitter hit .625 with just two errors on 24 total swings. 

Cain Kahahawai contributed 12 kills on 25 swings and Kekuaokalani Park and Edward Tanaka tallied a half-dozen kills apiece for Kamehameha, which hit .344 for the match. 

"We limited our errors and tried to keep the ball more in play and have them make the errors," Williams said. 

The Warriors were coming off of a five-set win over Mililani in Monday's opening round of the 12-team tournament. That result served as a bit of a wake-up call for  the defending state champions leading into Thursday's showdown against the previously-undefeated Vikings. 

"We came into that (Mililani) match thinking that we were going to win and we just had to change our mindset and go into every game and give every team a fight and not take any team lightly," Williams said. 

Hilo gave Kamehameha all it could handle in the opening set, which saw the teams combine for 16 ties and eight lead changes. 

The Warriors found some separation with a 4-0 run late in the set. Kahahawai and Nathaniel Koahou combined for a block on the right side to give their team set point, but Hilo answered with a kill by Maluhia Tandal followed by a Treidan Une-Eric Travis Canon double-block to pull within a point at 24-23. 

However, Tanaka put away set point off an assist from Koahou to help Kamehameha eke out the set 1 victory. 

The Warriors held a commanding 20-8 lead in set 2 but saw the Vikings storm back with runs of 5-0 and 4-0 to cut it to 23-17 before Kahahawai and Tanaka sandwiched kills around a Kamehameha service error to finish off set 2. 

Kahahawai got better as the match went on. He put down six of his kills in the third set. Kamehameha hit .484 as a team in set 3. 

"Cain is a talent, man. He really brings a lot of kills to this team and just helps everybody and yeah, he just did his role and that's what he does all the time," Williams said. 

Kahahawai took 25 swings and hit .280. Williams logged 24 attacks, Tanaka 18 and Park 12. Jaeden Miyahana took nine swings out of the middle. Koahou finished with 36 assists. 

"We kind of work outside-in. You know how they say establish middles? Well, we kind of establish the pins and then once we get a nice, comfortable lead (then) we start running that middle," Warriors coach Sava Agpoon said. 

Tandal recorded a team-high 17 kills for Hilo. The senior outside hitter took 46 total swings. Middle Palikapu Wilson had five kills, Une had four and was in on four blocks. Canon dished out 21 assists and came up with nine digs in the loss. 

"We knew they had a couple big talents on their team and we knew they're a great team and not to be taken for granted," Williams said of the Vikings. 

Tandal plays on Agpoon's club team outside of the high school season. He was hoping to give his club coach a better challenge than what he and his teammates were able to muster Thursday. 

"This is not how we've played all year. I feel like everybody was off today and I feel like we could have done way better," Tandal said. 

Wilson and Tandal are two of the Vikings' eight seniors this spring.

"A lot of people saw us as underdogs, but I feel like we were able to compete with the teams up here and this team, we created a strong bond that I feel like no other team in the state has, so that's what I really like about this team and it wasn't the result that we wanted, but we're still playing and we're still going to fight for that fifth place," Wilson expressed. 

Hilo hit .296 in the opening set, but just .193 for the match. 

"I think in that first set we had some errors that led to the result. We finished within two points and we had three net violations and some service errors and in tight games in the state tournament those errors make a difference. In the past we've been able to rebound from game one losses — just didn't happen today," Vikings coach Adam Tuifagu said. 

Tuifagu, a 2004 graduate of Kamehameha, is in his fifth year as coach at Hilo High. 

"We had a good season. We came off a 16-0 record in the BIIF and repeated as (league) champions, so I'm proud of these guys for the way they've played up until this point," Tuifagu said. 

It was the second time in as many seasons that the teams met in the quarterfinal round of the state tournament. The Warriors swept past Hilo almost exactly one year ago on their way to dethroning 10-time defending champion Punahou for their first state crown since 2011. 

Friday's semifinal round will take place at Moanalua High School. Kamehameha will face Moanalua in the 5 p.m. match, while fourth-seeded Maui will meet No. 1 seed Punahou at 7 o'clock.