HHSAA Boys Volleyball
No. 4 Moanalua sweeps No. 3 Hawaii Baptist to set up semifinal against No. 2 Mid-Pacific Thursday


Kalani Takase | ScoringLive
May 14, 2026, 5:31am

  

Wed, May 13, 2026 @ Moanalua [ 5:00 pm ]

Hawaii Baptist

0

Moanalua

3

FINAL  1   2   3   4   5      
HBA (12-7) 15 21 21 - - 0
MOA (16-0) 25 25 25 - - 3
Kill: L. Gannon (MOA) 19 kills
Blk: T. Chung (MOA) 4 blk
Ast: C. Cruz (MOA) 22 ast


SALT LAKE — The Menes are moving on. 

Lionel Gannon put down a match-high 19 kills and hit .424 to lead No. 4 Moanalua to a sweep of No. 3 Hawaii Baptist, 25-15, 25-21 and 25-21, in the quarterfinal round of the New City Nissan/HHSAA Division I Boys Volleyball State Championships.

Na Menehune (14-0) eased their way past the Eagles (10-7) in the first of two quarterfinals at Moanalua on Wednesday. 

Gannon, a 6-foot-1 senior outside hitter, led an efficient effort by the Menes, who hit .383 as a team. He took 33 total swings and committed only three attack errors. 

"It was really good. Everyone was feeling good today," Gannon said. 

Although it was Moanalua's first match since its four-set win over Mililani in the OIA championship a week prior, it showed little to no signs of rust against the battle-tested Eagles, who, conversely, had played road matches against Keaau and Kamehameha-Hawaii on Friday and Saturday, respectively. 

Gannon said the team took Thursday and Friday off before they began preparations for the state tournament over the weekend. 

"We made sure the past two practices we were doing a lot of scrimmages in order to shake off some of the rust that we got from us resting, so I think that prepared us well," Gannon said. 

That certainly seemed to be the case right off the bat Wednesday. Moanalua jumped out to a 7-2 lead in the opening set that it quickly extended to a 14-6 cushion after a kill by Loa McCutcheon that capped a 6-1 run. The Menes closed out set 1 with a 3-0 run that culminated with a double block by Vaolele Tauane and Jett Filisi. 

Set 2 was much more competitive as there were nine ties and four lead changes. A kill by Gannon from the left side forced a HBA timeout at 18-14. The Eagles got as close as 22-20 after a kill by middle Evan Quan, but McCutcheon put down consecutive kills to give his team set point. After an attack error by the Menes, Gannon finished off set 2 with a kill out of the back row off of a Christian Cruz assist. 

HBA seemed to seize the early momentum in set 3. Jason Rivers recorded three kills during a 5-0 run, but Moanalua retaliated by scoring 12 of the next 14 points to turn the tide and take a commanding 13-7 lead. Gannon had three kills and Taylor Chung two during the run. 

Moanalua coach Alan Cabanting called timeout with his team facing a 5-1 deficit in set 3. 

"We just needed a mental reset. We made a couple of unforced errors previous to our timeout and then we diversified our offense a little bit, gave us a different look and then we were able to hideout and just keep the momentum, keep our energy steady and then it was just next play, next play, next play and eventually we were able to win one point at a time, which kind of brought us back," Gannon said. 

The Eagles inched their way back to within 23-21 after another Quan kill, but Na Menehune reached set point via McCutcheon's fourth kill of the set off an assist from Colby Kawaa and secured the straight-set win on Darric Abe's service ace. 

"We stayed calm the entire time and we just ran a steady, steady offense and that was able to make us successful," Gannon said. 

McCutcheon finished with 13 kills against six errors on 29 swings (.241 attack percentage). He also came up with a team-high eight digs. 

Cruz notched 22 assists and seven digs and Kawaa had 21 assists and an ace. 

Moanalua recorded eight team blocks, while HBA managed just two. 

Rivers, the Eagles' prolific outside hitter, finished with a team-high 17 kills on 39 swings and hit .359. Gannon said slowing down the junior pin hitter was a focal point for the Menes. 

"We definitely to key in on him. He still played a great game even though we were kind of stacking on him," Gannon said. 

Chung was in on four blocks, including one solo block. Filisi, Gannon and Tauane were also in on multiple blocks in the win. 

"Everyone was staying really disciplined and we were able to shut down a couple of their hitters. Getting blocks is a really big momentum killer sometimes for the opposing team, so it was really good that we were able to get a couple stuff blocks and I think that contributed to our success a lot because we were able to keep the momentum on our side," Gannon explained. 

Samuel Mokan posted 10 kills and Henry Lee had seven for the Eagles, who hit .253 for the match. Tanner Hankey tallied a match-high 10 kills and setters Aaron Woolpert and Cade Toyofuku finished with 17 and 13 assists, respectively. Toyofuku also came up with a half-dozen digs in the loss. 

It was a disappointing result for the Eagles, who were seeking their first ever appearance in the Division I state semifinals. 

"We didn't play our best, but they did a lot to us to make us not play our best. They played really well and it's just unfortunate and I think for our first time in a while being at states, we kind of had a hard time getting into kind of a rhythm and getting our footing and we didn't play well until maybe the middle of the second set, but a lot of credit goes to Moanalua for putting a lot of pressure on us, blocking us and doing some really good things," HBA coach Teoni Obrey said. 

Obrey added that the Eagles' struggles with the first touch led to them being out of system more often than not. 

"We couldn't pass so we're really predictable when we can't pass and then they did a really good job of setting their blocks where they needed to be and we didn't do a very good job of following what we wanted to do and so they were scoring some easy points, momentum points and I think that created some separation and we lost a little bit of our confidence," Obrey expressed. 

HBA finished third in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu and had to win two matches the Big Island in as many days over the weekend to even reach Wednesday's quarterfinal round. 

The Eagles swept past Keaau, the third-place team out of the Big Island Interscholastic Federation, in a play-in match Friday before they did the same against BIIF runner-up Kamehameha-Hawaii in a first-round match Saturday. Obrey did not use it as an excuse, however, in his team's performance against the Oahu Interscholastic Association champion Na Menehune. 

"I don't think there was any fatigue. Yeah, we had enough rest. We just didn't play our best," Obrey stated. 

Moanalua will be making its seventh straight appearance in the final four of the state tournament. 

Na Menehune will be facing its second team from the ILH in as many nights, when it takes on No. 2 Mid-Pacific in the 7 p.m. matchup at Kamehameha's Kekuhaupio Gymnasium Thursday. 

The Owls (12-5) swept past No. 6 Maui in the late quarterfinal at Moanalua Wednesday night. The set scores were 28-26, 25-20 and 25-19. 

Sava Miocinovic racked up 23 kills and hit .404 help Mid-Pac hand the third-seeded Sabers (14-1) their first loss of the year. 

Julian Romine recorded a double-double of 12 kills and 10 digs and setter Nikola Miocinovic dished out 35 assists with nine digs and was in on six blocks. McKenna Hepton contributed 15 digs and four kills and Brennan Flores chipped in 14 digs and four assists in the win. 

Luke Prangnell led Maui with team-highs of 16 kills and 15 digs. Zachary Prangnell had seven kills with 13 digs and Samuel Cummings totaled six kills and six digs. Andrew Guzman finished with 30 assists and nine digs in the loss. 

Maui hit just .142 for the match, while Mid-Pacific hit .250. 

The Sabers were seeking a second straight semifinal appearance. They will play HBA in a consolation match Thursday, 5 p.m. at Moanalua. 

No. 5 Mililani will meet top-ranked and top-seeded Punahou in the 5 p.m. semifinal at Kamehameha Thursday. 

The semifinal winners will advance to the D1 championship match Friday, 7 p.m. at the Cannon Activities Center on the BYU-Hawaii campus. 


Reach Kalani Takase at [email protected].




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