Preps: Hana clinches state volleyball berth
By Robert Collias
The Maui News
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WAILUKU — The Hana High School boys volleyball team has won three straight Maui Interscholastic League titles.
Tonight, the Dragons will try to keep their hopes for four in a row alive when they play Seabury Hall in the league's Division II tournament final at the Baldwin gym.
Hana earned the chance — and a state-tournament berth — with a 25-21, 25-23 win over Moloka'i in the semifinals of the league tournament last night.
''MIL title is the goal,'' Hana junior Holden Gorbea, a middle blocker and outside hitter, said to The Maui News. ''We've won three in a row, so now we are going for a four-peat.''
The Dragons won their first two titles of the streak when the state had only one level of play, and last season they won the D-II crown and advanced to the state final before losing to Maryknoll, now a Division I team.
To get their fourth straight crown, Hana (8-1) will have to win tonight and then again tomorrow in an overall playoff for the D-II title. A Seabury win in either match would clinch the crown for the currently unbeaten Spartans.
''Seabury Hall is a very good team,'' Hana coach Manuel Oliveira said. ''They have a lot of height and they use it well. It is hard to compete with Seabury Hall.''
Last night, the Dragons were back to nearly full strength, with eight players available for duty.
''We have had injuries, academic problems, discipline, a little bit of everything this season,'' Oliveira said. ''This season has been a challenge to get everybody out there on the floor. We have had some games where we had six, seven players. Tonight we had eight, but at one point we had nine this season.''
One of the players who missed action this season was Gorbea. He was out for regular-season matches against Moloka'i and Seabury Hall.
He clearly made a difference against the Farmers with a match-high 11 kills and two blocks.
''Holden played great,'' Oliveira said. ''I told him he needed to step up his game and he did.''
Gorbea, a 6-foot-1, 190-pound junior, said he wanted to make a difference for a team that has only one senior.
''I wanted to show leadership tonight,'' he said. ''It was fun to play a team like Moloka'i.''
The Dragons started slowly in Game 1, falling behind 12-5 before closing with a 20-9 run. Gorbea had five of his kills in that charge, including one that gave the Dragons the lead for good at 20-19.
Kapena Kaiwi was also a force for the Dragons, with nine kills and nine assists. He was key in the second game when his ace gave Hana an 11-9 lead and later two of his kills in a three-point span pushed the lead to 22-19. Kaiwi's dink over the Moloka'i defense gave the Dragons match point at 24-22 and they closed it out two points later.
''Hana is a really scrappy team,'' Moloka'i coach Bill Dudoit said. ''They are so consistent and they always play as a team, forcing the opponent to make the mistakes. They serve in, they hit in, and they force you to play sound defense.''
The Farmers (5-4) played their best match of the season, according to Dudoit.
''It was a match that could have gone either way,'' he said. ''The intensity was matched on both sides and I never saw that from my team all season. We didn't want to let anything drop and I'm just really proud of my team. In the sport of volleyball, it is all about momentum and who makes the little mistakes. Hana has obviously been there, they are really well-coached, Manny really has that program established.
''They may have only eight boys, but it is eight boys with a lot of heart.''