HONOLULU — Countless times Thursday night, a player standing head and shoulders above the competition came flying in for a swing that found a seam in the defense.
Make that three players.
The Moanalua boys volleyball team is suddenly bristling with weaponry this season, infused by a group of University of Hawaii signees who decided to relocate to the islands ahead of their college careers.
Kai Rodriguez (6-foot-4), Zack Yewchuk (6-7) and Justin Todd (6-8) are hard to miss, and they rarely missed in a 25-16, 25-14, 25-9 sweep of over-matched Nanakuli in the Oahu Interscholastic Association quarterfinals in Moanalua’s gym.
Na Menehune, a perennial contender in the OIA under coach Alan Cabanting, have their sights set on the program’s first state title, which would be the first at the Division I level for an OIA school since Roosevelt in 1979.
MaxPreps has Moanalua, which held its own in a five-set loss to Punahou at the Clash of the Titans tournament earlier this month, as the No. 8 ranked team in the country. Na Menehune (12-0 OIA) have not dropped a set to a league opponent this season.
Moanalua faces Leilehua as a heavy favorite at Radford on Monday for a spot in Wednesday's OIA final.
Rodriguez, Todd and Yewchuk spoke to Spectrum News about this season and readying for the next level.
Cabanting said the three stars — Rodriguez from Gilroy, Calif., Todd from Houston and Yewchuk from British Columbia by way of Damien Memorial School last season — have fit in well with the team’s returning players from past seasons. They signed with two-time defending national champion UH in November.
“It’s been a high level of play. It’s making everybody a lot better,” Cabanting said. “I think the best part of it is they’re great kids. No attitude problem. I think that was one of the big things that I thought. Whenever you have very talented kids, that comes with that. (But) they’re very good kids. They get along with the group that are here, and then of course the skill, really high-level skill.”
All three showed off a devastatingly effective jump service game on Thursday. Todd went on a service run for almost the last half of the third set.
Each of the three, who are all also playing with Outrigger Volleyball Club, brings something different to the table.
Said Cabanting, “Kai sees the whole court. He can hit over, around blocks and be able to find those areas that defense is giving them, and be pinpoint accurate about it. Zack is very physical. The physicality in itself is just going to be the power hits, power serves, and then J.T., just height and physicality. His reach, I mean, people are going to have to reach really high to get to where he’s at in terms of hitting.”
You can read more about their background and circumstances coming to Hawaii here.
Brian McInnis covers the state's sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.