Malu Wilcox did it for the dynasty.
Moanalua’s bearded senior setter was his usual self in providing effective distribution to his teammates in the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I boys volleyball championship match against Campbell on Wednesday night, but he also dove into the base of the stands in his home gym — hard — going for a wayward ball.
“I always thought that the play isn’t dead until I say it’s dead, so it was still in the air. I dove for it,” Wilcox told Spectrum OC16’s Jimmy Bender. “Side hurts so bad. Got a big scar coming in right now.”
Na Menehune, too, did what had to be done in the 25-19, 25-23, 25-23 sweep of the Sabers for their sixth straight championship, and 12th in the last 13 editions of the OIA tournament.
Earlier, Radford defeated Pearl City in four sets for the Division II championship, its second in three years.
Moanalua’s 14th OIA championship — 12 in Division I and two in D-II — broke a tie with Pearl City for the most in league history.
Coach Alan Cabanting has been at the helm for 12 of them.
“No matter what it is, it’s my assistant coaches that I can give them (responsibility) and delegate whatever I need them to do,” Cabanting told Bender. “And then, of course, the boys, they come and they they’re willing to come under my tutelage and listen to what I’m saying. Because oftentimes, especially after COVID, where everything went a little bit amok, people just don’t listen anymore. And these boys have wanted to and have been willing to listen when I’ve needed them to.”
Now Moanalua (14-0) will look to become the OIA’s first HHSAA Division I champion since Roosevelt in 1979. Na Menehune were assigned the No. 2 seed in the 12-team field; unbeaten Punahou got the No. 1 seed out of the ILH, BIIF champ Hilo got the 3 seed and Maui High is the 4. Competition begins Monday at regional sites.
Wilcox tallied 40 assists and six digs. Lionel Gannon pounded 16 kills while middle Luke Jones supplied nine with three blocks.
“It means a lot, man,” Wilcox said of winning an OIA title in all four of his seasons. “Being a part of all these teams, helping them win championships, it just means a lot, especially with the support from these guys.
“We’ve been through thick and thin together with all these tournaments and all these practices, we went through it,” he added.
Campbell (10-4) upset top West seed Aiea on the way to its first OIA final since 2008. That year is the Sabers’ only title to date, in Division II.
Julius Momoe-Mitchell led the Sabers with 15 kills while Iverson Kuresa added 13.
“Their big guy’s Julius, and Julius makes some really great moves, does some really great things,” Cabanting said. “And as much as we tried to stop him, he had his kills tonight, so kudos to him. But we understood that in order to beat Campbell, we had to stop him.”
He added that his team’s defense will have to be better to contend with ILH teams Punahou and Kamehameha.
Radford topped Pearl City 25-21, 18-25, 25-22, 25-14, behind 18 kills from Keahi Kaneakua and 11 from Mark Kimo Villejo for its second boys volleyball title, both in D-II.
Setter Micah Kalima-Keohohina had an all-around performance of nine kills, 23 assists, six digs and two aces.
Josiah Talamoa led the Chargers with 15 kills, 12 digs and five aces.
Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.
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