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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Wednesday, April 2, 2008

VOLLEYBALL
Lawson leads 'Iolani past Kamehameha

Photo gallery: Kamehameha plays Iolani

By Kyle Sakamoto
Advertiser Staff Writer

Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

Brad Lawson, a 6-foot-7 senior for top-ranked 'Iolani, had seven kills in each game of a victory over No. 5 Kamehameha.

ANDREW SHIMABUKU | The Honolulu Advertiser

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'Iolani's Brad Lawson received a lot of sets last night against Kamehameha as expected.

He boomed spikes, and more importantly he didn't try to do too much with sets that weren't ideal.

Lawson had 14 kills without an error as host 'Iolani beat Kamehameha, 25-21, 25-22, in an Interscholastic League of Honolulu boys volleyball match.

"Everybody knows we'll set Brad," said 'Iolani coach Mike Among. "He's doing a lot better job of just keeping balls in play instead of going for a kill on every shot. He's become a much smarter hitter."

'Iolani, ranked No. 1 in The Advertiser's Top 10 poll, improved to 4-0. No. 5 Kamehameha dropped to 2-2.

Lawson, a 6-foot-7 senior, had seven kills in each game.

"We emphasize long strokes in our program," Lawson said. "On a bad set, on a tight set, go deep off the top of the block."

The Raiders had all five of their blocks in the second game. Lawson dropped in on four of them.

"In between the games our coaches talked about disciplined blocking and pressing the net," he said.

In the first game, Kamehameha led 13-9, but the Raiders scored four in a row. The game was tied five more times with the final one at 18-all. 'Iolani then scored four in a row with Skyler Tajima serving to take a 22-18 lead.

The teams sided out the rest of the way and a double contact by the Warriors ended it.

In the second game, the Warriors led 20-18, but Lawson's kill and another by Tyler Tanaka tied it. 'Iolani went ahead 21-20 on Lawson's kill that went off the ceiling and landed on the Warriors' side of the court.

"Somehow, someway we would lose momentum," said Kamehameha coach Guy Kaniho. "Again they made the big plays. At least 90 percent of the long rallies went their way, if not all."

The Raiders led 23-22 and scored the final two points on a kill by Lawson and a double block by Tyler Donovan and Pablo Warner.

"Yesterday in practice we talked about focusing at 20 points and from there just crunch time, pushing to the end," Lawson said.

Taylor Mounts had the second-highest kill total for 'Iolani with three.

"At least 75 percent of their offense is Brad Lawson," Kaniho said. "They try to mix it up. You would see in the course of one rally, four or five sets would go right to Brad. Obviously, if you give him that many swings, he's going to side out eventually."

'Iolani finished with 26 kills and three hitting errors, while Kamehameha had 28 kills and nine errors.

Isaiah Peroff and Micah Christenson each had seven kills for Kamehameha. All seven of Christenson's kills came in the second game.

Reach Kyle Sakamoto at ksakamoto@honoluluadvertiser.com.