Na Alii headed to states after taking down Lunas
Staff Writer
KIHEI — King Kekaulike High School has never played in a state tournament for water polo.
That will all change in a couple of weeks. Na Alii used a group effort to defeat Lahainaluna 3-2 in the Maui Interscholastic League tournament semifinals at Kihei Aquatic Center on Friday, securing the first state tournament berth for King Kekaulike in the sport’s 16-year history at the state level.
“Honestly, I thought we did really well in defense,” Na Alii junior Montana Disegna said. “We need to improve our offense, especially if we play a team that’s pushing more against us. We were working the ball well, too.”
Disegna, Kalena Vaivai and Kate Hehemann each scored a goal for the second-seeded Na Alii (8-4).
“I think I played way better defense today out of all the games I played,” said Disegna. “I’ve just been really working hard because I might try this for college. So I’ve just been trying to focus and calm my emotions down more during the game and just play.”
Hehemann scored the first goal of the game after there was a double ejection for the Lunas with 3 minutes, 30 seconds left in the first quarter.
Lahainaluna picked up the pace in the second quarter with two shot attempts by Hailey Bogar, but they were blocked by Na Alii goalie Kiana Correa, who had seven key saves overall. Vaivai then made a long shot from the outside, building King Kekaulike’s lead to 2-0.
Senior Dakota Delos Reyes came back to score the first goal for the Lunas, but Disegna responded with her goal, following up again with a defensive bodyblock.
Lele Oliveira scored early in the third quarter to bring the Lunas within one goal again, but Na Alii held on from there to end Lahainaluna’s bid for a 13th trip to the state tournament over the last 14 years.
“Very, very big game,” Na Alii coach Ryan Lehman said. “We had to beat the Lunas in order to make it to states.”
Lehman said it was his team’s ability to communicate in the pool and their hard work all season that earned them the win.
“It’s taken us three years, four years to get them up to this level of water polo,” he said. “Very exciting.”
King Kekaulike will face regular-season champion Baldwin today in the tournament championship game. A Bears win would send Na Alii to a state tournament first-round match on Maui on April 29. A King Kekaulike win would force a rematch for the MIL overall title on Tuesday.
While it was a tough loss for Lahainaluna (7-5), the Lunas still have one more game to play as they take on Seabury Hall in today’s third-place match.
“Today was an example of us beating ourselves,” Lunas coach Bradley Mason. “We had a game plan, we knew what we wanted to do but we just didn’t do it.”