Monday Morning MIL: Kamehameha Maui baseball, Maui High boys volleyball clinch state berths

The Maui High School boys volleyball team and Kamehameha Schools Maui baseball team both took big steps towards breaking MIL championship droughts last week.

The two teams clinched Hawai‘i High School Athletic Association state tournament berths by claiming MIL regular-season titles in their respective sports.

The Sabers haven’t won an MIL boys volleyball title since 2001, but they have cruised to a 10-0 record to clinch the regular-season title, No. 1 seed in the league tournament and the HHSAA berth that goes with it. 

Maui High can claim the MIL overall championship by winning the Central Pacific Bank MIL tournament that will take place April 26, 28-29 at King Kekaulike gym, or by beating the MIL tournament champion in an overall championship playoff on April 30.

Maui High clinched the regular-season title with a convincing 25-15, 25-14, 25-9 win over four-time defending league champion Kamehameha Maui on Thursday night at the Izumi “Shine” Matsui Athletic Center.

The Warriors led 10-9 in the first set before the Sabers went on an 8-0 run that included Luke Prangnell making it 11-10 and giving Maui High its first lead after starting the match down 5-1. Moments later, Zachary Prangnell slammed home a set from his twin Luke Prangnell to give the Sabers a 22-12 lead.

Maui High jumped to a 10-2 lead in the second set and an 11-4 lead in the third set and was not challenged the rest of the night. The Sabers are 30-1 in sets in MIL play.

“Honestly, we’re having a lot of fun, it’s really competitive, I want practice to be really competitive,” junior setter Andrew Guzman said after the sweep Thursday night in front of a large crowd. “That’s the only way we get better: Iron sharpens iron.”

Luke Prangnell finished with 10 kills, five digs and seven aces for the Sabers. Zachary Prangnell finished with eight kills, three digs and two aces. Joey Whaley had six kills and seven blocks, Guzman finished with 23 assists and three digs, and libero Kamaehu Akahi-Lurendez had five digs.

Akahi-Lurendez is one of eight seniors on the Maui High roster.

“It feels good, I’m very proud of the team for how far we’ve come since my freshman year — we were almost last — and now senior year, No. 1 seed,” Akahi-Lurendez said. “Just proud, proud of everyone and how far they came.”

Akahi-Lurendez said school spirit on the Kahului campus has been electric among his classmates this season. The Sabers have been to just three state tournaments in the last 20 years, all as MIL runners-up, including last year when they were eliminated in the first round in a hard-fought, four-set match against Roosevelt.

“It means a lot because in boys volleyball I don’t you ever heard of Maui High placing first,” Akahi-Lurendez said. “If we can do it, that would be pretty mean.”

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MIL Baseball: Kamehameha Maui wraps up regular-season title, state berth

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The Warriors have not won the MIL baseball championship since 2009, but can do so by winning the league tournament April 23-26 at Maehara Stadium or with a win against the tournament champion on April 29.

Kamehameha Maui clinched the regular-season title on Friday with a 5-1 win over King Kekaulike in 9 innings. The Warriors finished the regular season 10-2 after a 5-1 loss to King Kekaulike in the final game on Saturday when coach Shane Dudoit emptied his bench.

Baldwin also finished 10-2, but finished second based on the head-to-head tiebreaker that the Warriors secured by winning two of three games against the Bears March 19-21. 

King Kekaulike (5-7) is the third seed and will face Baldwin in a crucial semifinal game April 25. Maui High (4-8) is the fourth seed and will take on fifth-place Lahainaluna (1-11) on April 23 for the right to play Kamehameha Maui in the semifinals on April 24.

“It absolutely was gratifying, I think, for the kids, for our institution, Kamehameha Schools and our administration,” Dudoit said. “These kids have worked their butts off all year and there’s still a lot of work to be done. But I think they are proud of themselves as we are proud of them as well.”

The Wally Yonamine Foundation/HHSAA Division I state championship tournament will be played at Maehara Stadium May 7-10. 

Of the MIL championship, Dudoit said, “ultimately that’s our end goal, winning the MIL, getting a better seed in to the state tournament, but we’ll take whatever happens. If it doesn’t come out our way we’ll still be in the state tournament battling for a state title.”

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MIL Track and Field: Maui athletes have six top marks with league, state meets upcoming

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With the league and state championship meets less than a month away, the MIL has six of the top marks in the state — four boys and two girls — according to statistics compiled by athletic.net.

The King Kekaulike boys 4×400 relay team of Ahari Gonzalez, Lorenzo Gonzalez, Jake Hackett and Zion Mock ran 3 minutes, 23.62 seconds to record the top mark in the state so far, at the Kamehameha Relays on April 4.

The Kamehameha Maui boys have three state-leading marks: Pa’u Spencer tops the discus list at 164 feet, 5 inches, from MIL meet No. 2 on March 7; Cody Gardanier’s 6-foot-4 high jump from the Yamamoto Invitational on March 14 is the top mark in that event; and Nohi Casco’s 14-6 pole vault from the Yamamoto Invitational is also No. 1.

Spencer and Gardanier are both starters for the Warriors volleyball team that has five members who also compete in track and field. The other track athletes who double on the Kamehameha Maui volleyball team are ‘Imaikalani Kramer, Cash Kalama and Anthony Sardine.

Spencer, a junior who was also a starting offensive lineman for the Warriors’ Division II state championship football team, has a scholarship offer from the University of Hawai‘ for football.

“He is amazing, it’s pretty amazing to be able to depend on someone like Pa’u in more than one, more than two, actually three sports,” Kamehameha Maui volleyball coach Hanalei Alapaʻi said. “And he continues to show up for his teammates. We have a bunch of other track athletes as well who continue to contribute to this volleyball team — it’s just really a tribute to these boys as individuals, but also to their team and their school.”

The other top track and field marks in the state from the MIL include Seabury Hall’s girls 4×800 relay team of Freya Carlsen, Isabella Grossman, Kailana Hagan and Aspen Carver, who ran 10:01.54 at MIL meet No. 4 on March 28.

The final top state mark from the MIL belongs to Kamehameha Maui’s Allie Kennedy, who cleared 11-7 in the girls pole vault at the Cal Track/Ruby Tuesday’s Invitational on March 22.

The Central Pacific Bank MIL track and field championships are May 2-3 at War Memorial Stadium and the Island Movers/HHSAA state championships at May 9-10 on O’ahu.

“Monday Morning MIL” columns appear weekly on Monday mornings with updates on local sports in the Maui Interscholastic League and elsewhere around Maui County. Please send column ideas — anything having to do with sports in Maui County — as well as results and photos to rob@hjinow.org.