LAHAINA — On a festive, colorful senior night in front of a standing-room-only crowd, the Lahainaluna High School boys volleyball team squeezed every last ounce of the energy to keep its hopes alive for the Maui Interscholastic League Division I regular-season crown on Tuesday night in West Maui.

The Lunas won the battle that took more than two hours to complete, 25-22, 18-25, 22-25, 25-18, 16-14.

Prince Dagupion, a junior serving specialist, sent seven seniors to their final kills on the Lunas’ floor with an ace that ended things.

Noa Gordon, another junior who missed much of the MIL football season with a broken left collarbone, led the Lunas with 13 kills, 13 digs and five aces. The Lunas are 8-1 since an 0-3 start to the MIL season.

“I just want to give a shout-out to my teammates, we’ve been working really hard because we did start off 0-3, but the difference between then to now just shows how hard we have worked,” Gordon said.

Gordon said the packed house helped the Lunas to the crucial victory.

“It was amazing, I mean I loved the atmosphere, I just loved the pressure, adrenaline — it just makes it so fun,” Gordon said.

The Lunas are done with the regular season at 8-4 and own a 2-1 head-to-head tiebreaker advantage over the 8-3 Warriors, who can still wrap up the regular-season crown and state berth that goes with it when they finish at King Kekaulike on Thursday.

“I guess we’re King Kekaulike fans now,” Lahainaluna coach Marc Watasaki said. “What a match, for senior night and all.”

The Warriors fought off four match points before finally succumbing.

Kuhao Murray had 16 kills, five digs and two aces for the Lunas, Kaedin Hanohano added 13 digs and Dominador Damaso had 31 assists and four digs.

“Hats off to Kamehameha, they’re playing a lot better than they were at the beginning of the season,” Watasaki said. “They’ve come a long way, that whole team, but I’ve got to give it up to my boys. We started 0-3, we looked bad, we played bad … I mean, I’m proud of them for the work that they’ve put in. They never gave up, they never put their heads down.”

The Lunas bounced out to a 7-1 lead in the first set before the Warriors went on a 10-1 run of their own to go up 11-8. The Lunas rallied to take a 16-13 lead before a kill off the block by Kanekoa Maielua-Kekiwi started a 3-0 Kamehameha Maui run to tie it again at 16-16.

Things remained close as an ace by Gordon tied it 22-22 and a block by William Bentley-Smith gave the Lunas a 23-22 lead. A net violation on the Warriors gave the Lunas set point and another Gordon ace finished it.

The second set was tied 15-15 before Maielua-Kekiwi smacked a kill off the Lunas’ block. Another kill from Maielua-Kekiwi, this time from the back row, pushed the Warriors’ advantage to 19-15 and prompted a timeout from Watasaki.

The Lunas would not get closer the rest of the set that ended on a well-placed bump kill by Maielua-Kekiwi.

An ace by Maielua-Kekiwi opened a 6-2 lead for the Warriors in the third set. Dylan Schnitzer smacked home a back set by Po’o Aiu to make it 10-5, and a kill by Aiu pushed the lead to 14-7.

Gordon blocked a Maielua-Kekiwi kill attempt to bring the Lunas within 16-11, and Lahainaluna drew within 22-20 on three straight Kamehameha Maui hitting errors.

Schnitzer grabbed the momentum back for the Warriors on a back-row kill, and a Lunas’ hitting error made 24-21. A dink by Gordon brought the Lunas within 24-22 before a net violation on Lahainaluna ended the set.

A block by Ehukai Keomaka gave the Lunas a 7-4 lead as they controlled throughout the fourth set. A resounding kill by Gordon upped the Lunas’ lead to 10-6, a kill by Murray gave the Lunas a 20-15 lead and moments later a kill by Keomaka made it 21-16.

The match went to the fifth set on a Kamehameha Maui hitting error.

Lahainaluna scored the first five points of the final frame before Bentley-Smith smacked a kill off the block and Dagupion served up an ace to make it 7-1. Lahainaluna took a 10-4 lead on a Kamehameha Maui hitting error.

After taking their final timeout, the Warriors quickly went on a 3-0 run to pull within three and bring a timeout from Watasaki.

Gordon smacked home a kill and Kamehameha committed a serve error to make it 12-9. The Lunas’ lead grew to 14-10 before a Maielua-Kekiwi dink pulled Kamehameha Maui within one and brought the final timeout from Watasaki.

An ace by Pii Kamoku tied it at 14-14 before the Lunas ended it on an error and ace by Dagupion, setting off a wild celebration.

The Warriors were led by Maielua-Kekiwi’s 13 kills and Schnitzer added 11. Nahale Dukelow had seven blocks and Aiu dished out 32 assists.

“We knew it was going to be loud, we knew it was senior night, it was expected,” Warriors coach Robert Brede said. “We dropped the first set then came back with the second two, they got the fourth and, you know, we just had a bunch of errors that put us down and put the momentum on their side. With the momentum with them, they finished it out strong.”

* Robert Collias is at rcollias@mauinews.com

MIL Boys VolleybalL

MIL STANDINGS

DIVISION I

W L Pct GB

KS Maui 8 3 .727 —

Lahainaluna 8 4 .667 ½

King Kekaulike 6 5 .545 2

Maui High 4 7 .364 4

Baldwin 2 9 .182 6

DIVISION II

W L Pct GB

x-Molokai 8 0 1.000 —

Seabury Hall 4 4 .500 4

Lanai 0 8 .000 8

x-clinched regular-season championship

Tuesday’s Results

Lahainaluna def. Kamehameha Maui 25-22, 18-25, 22-25, 25-18, 16-14

King Kekaulike def. Maui High 25-17, 21-25, 24-26, 26-24, 17-15

Thursday’s Matches

Maui High at Baldwin, 6:30 p.m.

Kamehameha Maui at King Kekaulike, 6:30 p.m.

End of regular season