HHSAA Boys Volleyball
Kamehameha escapes Moanalua in 5; Punahou overcomes slow start in sweep of Maui


Kalani Takase | ScoringLive
May 10, 2025, 12:25am

  

Fri, May 9, 2025 @ Moanalua [ 5:00 pm ]

Kamehameha

3

Moanalua

2

FINAL  1   2   3   4   5      
KSK (15-7) 25 25 24 25 15 3
MOA (16-1) 22 22 26 27 12 2
Kill: C. Williams (KSK) 26 kills
Blk: K. Paik (KSK) 7 blk
Ast: D. Wilcox (MOA) 60 ast


SALT LAKE — For the third time in as many years, Kamehameha and Punahou will meet in the final match of the boys volleyball season. 

The defending state champion Warriors will face off against the perennial powerhouse Buffanblu in the title match of the New City Nissan/HHSAA Division I State Championships Saturday night. 

Kamehameha secured a return trip to the state final in thrilling fashion Friday after it escaped with a five-set semifinal win over tournament No. 2 seed Moanalua. The set scores were 25-22, 25-22, 24-26, 25-27 and 15-12. 

By contrast, Punahou, the No. 1 seed in the 12-team field, swept past fourth-seeded Maui in the nightcap at Moanalua High School, 25-19, 25-18 and 25-19. 

The Warriors (15-6) and Buffanblu (17-0) will meet at 7 p.m. Saturday at Moanalua. 

Kamehameha was paced by the play of senior outside hitter Conor Williams, who put down a match-high 26 kills and hit .322 for the match. The 5-foot-10 Williams, who is the team's lone returning starter from a year ago, also came up with a dozen digs, two service aces and a solo block. 

Williams credited the resiliency of his teammates for finding a way to finish off the previously-undefeated Na Menehune (15-1), who evened the match at two sets apiece after having dropped the first two. 

"We had to stay mentally strong and just play our game. We knew it wasn't going to be easy to make it to the ‘ship, but we had to put up a fight (in) every match," said Williams, who took 59 total swings and committed only seven errors. 

Kamehameha coach Sava Agpoon noted that Williams dealt with nagging injuries throughout the season. 

"He was injured actually a lot and then finally we get him healthy. We were kind of resting him a lot the past week and this week, too, but his body feels a lot better," Agpoon said. 

Williams thanked the Warriors' athletic training staff for getting him back on the court through the multitude of ailments he has worked through. 

"I mean, every night after practice I would just stay in the trainers and we have the best trainers in the state, I can confidently say that and I want to shoutout my uncle who also treated me and helped me take care of my injuries, too," Williams said. 

Williams was steady with his production. He had nine kills through the first two sets and 10 in the fourth set alone. Williams proved effective from either pin as well as out of the back row. He often hit over blockers, but also did his share of tooling the block and mixed in the occasional change-of-pace shot. 

"He's an amazing player — we all love him, we need him — he contributes a lot to this team; He's very talented, very skilled," junior middle blocker Jaeden Miyahana said of Williams.

Kamehameha used late-game runs to close out sets 1 and 2, but Moanalua turned the table in sets 3 and 4. 

The teams were tied at 25 in set 4 before Lionel Gannon put away back-to-back kills for Na Menehune to send it to a deciding fifth set. 

The Warriors took a quick 3-0 lead in set 5. Na Menehune eventually got to within 11-9 with a kill by Gannon off an assist from Malu Wilcox, but the ensuing serve went into the net. A Moanalua attack error stretched Kamehameha's lead to 13-9. 

Moanalua scored three of the next four points, including a pair of kills by opposite Loa McCutcheon and staved off two match points, but Kamehameha got a double-block from Miyahana and Edward Tanaka at the end of long rally to finish off the match. 

"In that third set we got a little bit lax. We thought we had it and they came back took away those other two sets and our coaches brought us back together. We regrouped and we came back strong in that fifth set and finished it off," Miyahana said.

Tanaka and Cain Kahahawai tallied 13 kills and six digs apiece. Tanaka hit .276, while Kahahawai was in on five blocks and also served up three of his team's seven aces (against 11 service errors).

Moanalua also had 11 service errors, but did not register an ace. It was 95 of 102 in serve-receive, whereas Kamehameha did not commit an error in 98 serve-receive opportunities. 

"That was definitely very key — keeping them out of system so that our blockers could take it, our diggers could take it — it just made it a whole lot easier for us," Miyahana said. 

Libero Braden Maneja posted 16 digs and setter Nathaniel Koahou dished out 58 assists with seven digs and four block assists. 

"We had to move the ball around a little bit. Conor was on fire and we had to ride him just a little bit, but oh man, Jaeden too was going for it — everybody wanted it," Agpoon said. 

Gannon led Moanalua with 25 kills on 65 swings; He committed seven attack errors and hit .277 for the match. Moanalua also got 13 kills from Ezekiel Afalava-Sablan, 11 from McCutcheon and nine and eight from middles Luke Jones and Taylor Chung, respectively. Libero Christian Cruz had a match-high 17 digs in the loss. 

Moanalua coach Alan Cabanting was proud of his players' effort, but pointed to a few mistakes late in sets 1 and 2 as being especially critical. 

"It's one of those where every little point counts. We've been talking with the boys about how in these types of games, especially against top teams, when those opportunities are available and we don't take advantage of them, the other team is and that's what happened in the first two sets. It was one or two plays that made a difference, but after we got shell-shocked the first two sets, we came back and battled and battled all the way through," Cabanting said. 

"Sometimes you win ‘em, sometimes you don't and this one just didn't happen to go our way tonight," he added. 

Moanalua hit .262 for the match to Kamehameha's .239 hitting percentage. Both teams recorded 12 team blocks. 

"I always expect the unexpected and I knew they were going to put up a fight because I know they wanted it as much as we did, but in the end we wanted it way more and we fought for it," Williams said. 

Na Menehune, who had lost only three sets all year prior to Friday's match, made their sixth straight final four appearance. They were seeking their first trip to the title game since 2022.  

Just as it did in Thursday's quarterfinal round, Punahou got off to a bit of a slow start in its semifinal win over Maui. 

One day prior the Buffanblu sputtered early in set 1 against Konawaena but found its footing after coach Rick Tune called a timeout with his team trailing. They went on to sweep the Wildcats 25-22, 25-17 and 25-17. 

Friday's victory over the previously-unbeaten Sabers (15-1) played out in similar fashion. 

The teams exchanged points early on before Maui used a 5-0 run to take a 14-11 lead. It was at that point that Tune called a timeout and ended up being the only one he utilized over the course of the match. 

"He just told us to trust ourselves and that it'll click — because everybody makes mistakes, but he told us that it's how we respond to them — that the response is more important than the result of the play," sophomore outside hitter Tanoa Scanlan said of Tune's direction during the stoppage in play. 

Tune affirmed Scanlan's interpretation of the timeout instruction. 

"Settle down, stay the course, keep communicating, keep being connected and together," Tune said. "We're young. We don't have a whole lot of guys who have played in this environment— we call it under the bright lights — and we're still kind of getting comfortable doing that; we have one returning starter fro last year."

Maui held an 18-16 advantage a little later in the opening set, but Punahou stormed back with an 8-0 run that included three kills by Cameron Porter. Porter finished off set 1 with his sixth kill. 

"Coach always tells us that it's the first five points that win the set and we didn't get that down, but I trust in our guys that we're gonna keep playing and staying together and I think it's just the energy that we have — we keep coming together (whether we) win or lose a point and I think that's what gets us into the game," said Scanlan, who put down seven of his match-high 21 kills in the first set. 

The teams went back and forth again in set 2, but Punahou took the lead for good via. 4-0 run that was capped by a Scanlan kill from the left side. A 5-1 run by the Buffanblu closed out the second set; it was Scanlan with the kill on a pike set to finish off set point. 

Punahou separated midway through set 3 with a 5-0 run that culminated with Nahua Lloyd and Afatia Thompson combining for a block that gave their team a 16-8 lead. 

The Buffanblu hit .303 in set 3 and .284 for the match. 

"We didn't execute like we can, but we got better as the match we along," Tune said. 

Scanlan took a match-high 35 swings, committed only three errors and finished with a .514 attack percentage. 

"He scored points at a high level for us. I think (Saturday) we're going to spread it around a little bit more, but tonight (Friday) he was a guy that was putting balls away for us so it didn't make sense to go away from him," Tune said. 

Porter put down 12 kills eight eight digs, Keola Todd-Perry had seven kills and four block assists and Lloyd contributed five kills and seven block assists. Setters Kahikini Marumoto and Ty Kikuchi notched 25 and 17 assists, respectively, and libero Sean Clark came up with a match-high 15 digs in the win. 

Luke Pragnell had six kills and as many digs and Andrew Guzman finished with 14 assists and seven digs to lead Maui, which was held to a .037 hitting percentage. 

"Credit to that team because they play hard," Scanlan said of the Sabers. "Every ball was getting up and they were getting touches on the block so yeah, they're a great team."

Maui was coming off of a five-set win over Campbell Thursday. Prior to that match, it had dropped just one set in an otherwise unblemished run through the Maui Interscholastic League. 

Punahou, the state's lone remaining unbeaten team, will be trying for its 40th state championship in program history. 

The Buffanblu saw their string of 10 consecutive state titles come to an end at the hand of the Warriors last year, who knocked them off in four sets in the title game behind a 34-kill effort by Kainoa Wade. 

"That game last year was heartbreaking for all of us but we got another shot at it (Saturday) and I'm excited and we're all going to play for the seniors that didn't get it last year," Scanlan said. 

It will be the fourth meeting between the ILH rivals this season. Punahou has swept Kamehameha in two of their previous three matchups this year. 

"They're a great team, we're a great team," Scanlan expressed. "I think the best team is gonna win tomorrow and I believe in our guys and I know that we can get it done."

The match will follow the D2 state final between fourth-seeded Radford and second-seeded Kapaa, which gets underway at 5 p.m. 

Maui will play Moanalua in the D1 third-place match at 2 p.m. at Moanalua. 


Reach Kalani Takase at [email protected].




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