‘Iao Intermediate School eighth-grader Ivan Jeoung admits he was nervous Monday.

His Aloha Volleyball Association 14-under team was facing three match points in the gold-medal match against O’ahu powerhouse Spike and Serve Volleyball Club in the prestigious TransPacific Volleyball Championships.

But the feisty group of eight Mauians ages 12 to 14 years old — and ranging from 4-foot-11 to 6 feet — pulled out the second set nailbiter 30-28 after losing the first set 25-21. They then rolled in the third set 15-9 to win the title in the division of 17 teams.

“I was happy that we made it that far, but I wasn’t expecting to win that game for gold,” said Jeoung, the team’s setter. “We were down 5 or 10 points in the second set really and they had (match) point for like the longest time, it seemed like. We just made it back somehow with our serving.”

The Aloha Volleyball Association team, which won 17 of 20 sets to go 8-1 in matches, was the only one of several from Maui to win a title at the tournament held at the Hawai’i Convention Center in Honolulu.

The TransPacific Volleyball Championships is the largest indoor sporting event in the state, drawing more than 400 teams and 5,000 players, and played annually over the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend.

The championship qualifies the Maui boys team for the 2026 AAU Boys Volleyball Championships, which is set to be played in Florida on July 7-10.

The team’s 26-year-old head coach Hanalei Alapai was all smiles Thursday night at the Erdman Athletic Center on the Seabury Hall campus at their first practice since the championship run. The dedicated players practice from 7 to 9 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays, one of the few times the Erdman gym is available.

“We have a team of competitors, a team of boys who just want to play volleyball,” Alapai said.

They are so dedicated that Alapai said they didn’t want to take their regular practice night of Tuesday off despite the grueling weekend on O’ahu.

“These boys do not like to rest,” Alapai said.

The AVA Hanalei team (dubbed that by tournament organizers because of the coach’s first name) is made up of three players from Seabury Hall (La’akeaokalani Padilla, Declan Brown and Wyatt Gonzales), two are home schooled (Bryce Cunningham and Arden Fuetsch), one from ‘Iao Intermediate (Jeoung), one from Maui Waena Intermediate (Hudson Schultz), one from Kalama Intermediate (Cody Kea) and one from Kīhei Charter School (Ethan Tillotson). Brown did not make the trip to O’ahu because he was attending an Olympic Development Program camp for soccer.

Jeoung pointed to the serving prowess of 4-foot-11 Padilla as a key to the comeback in the championship round.

“So nervous,” said 12-year-old Padilla, the youngest on the team. “It was crazy. The crowd, everyone was just cheering after every point. It was really motivational, and I’m just so happy that all the people came to support us.”

Jeoung, Kea, Padilla and Gonzales were the only players who started the season in August with any competitive volleyball experience. 

“It was really our goal to make sure that everybody started really at the same place,” Alapai said. “The way that we did that was just make sure that returning players were here to help those who are just beginning.”

The beginners developed quickly, “so we were able to break the game down pretty finely and piece by piece” and “put all of the parts back together,” Alapai said.

Indoor volleyball plays with six players at a time on the court, so the champions from Maui rotated their lineup throughout the tournament to keep players as fresh as possible. The AVA team finished third in the 14-under division in the Kane Cup at the Hawai’i Convention Center in November, giving them confidence they could do well at the TransPacific Championships.

The boisterous 4-foot-11 Schultz provided energy that was contagious to his teammates. He does not mind making the trip Upcountry to practice two nights a week, saying volleyball is “my favorite thing in the world.”

Schultz’ father Daniel Schultz, a former professional volleyball player and coach at Lahainaluna High School and Maui Prep, watched practice on Thursday with Tonya Jeoung, Ivan’s mom, who was busy keeping young daughters Harleigh and Korra out of the way of flying volleyballs.

Making it to practice “is not too bad, as long as we plan dinner properly,” Tonya Jeoung said. “His grandparents take him on Tuesdays because the girls have dance. And then we’re up here on Thursdays, all three of us with him.”

Tonya Jeoung went on the trip, providing Facebook live videos of the matches for the girls and dad Byung Jeoung.

“We weren’t even playing, but I feel like my body went 10 rounds with Rocky or something,” Tonya Jeoung said. “It was crazy, crazy. It was a lot of fun though.”

Alapai said the championship has opened some of his players eyes, “so now this team really just knows what they can do more in the future. … They did surprise me a bit. I mean, they’re so young.”

Alapai told the team of their qualification for the AAU national event in July at the end of practice at about 9 p.m. on Thursday.

“We’re hoping to make that an opportunity for us to compete against the best in the nation,” Alapai said. “We’re hoping that we can get some help from our community with sponsorships and support to get there.”

Checks to support the team’s fundraising for the Florida trip can be mailed to: Aloha Volleyball Association, P.O. Box 880554, Pukalani, HI 96788. Or supporters can go to the team’s website to make a donation.