Roosevelt's Kaina Palama just swung away last night in leading his team to two victories and the O'ahu Interscholastic Association Red East boys volleyball crown.

It didn't matter that his offensive tag-team partner was available for only one of the matches.

Palama, a 6-foot-2 senior, had 11 kills and just two hitting errors in Roosevelt's 25-23, 25-21 victory over McKinley. The Rough Riders played the match without 6-7 junior Kenneth Rewick, who sat out for what he called a "minor mishap" at school.

In Roosevelt's second match, Palama had 12 kills and three hitting errors in a 25-17, 26-24 victory over host Castle. Rewick added 10 kills.

Roosevelt, ranked No. 3 in The Advertiser's Top 10 poll, improved to 10-0. Castle, which swept McKinley in the first match, moved to 6-4. McKinley fell to 3-7. Each team plays 12 league matches.

"We'll take it," said Roosevelt coach Kaui Mendonca. "We didn't play well. Hopefully, we'll play better in the upcoming days and get ready for the playoffs."

In the Roosevelt-McKinley match, the Tigers led 17-12 in the first game, but the Rough Riders scored five in a row to tie it. Palama had three kills during the spurt

There were eight ties in the game — the last at 22. A pair of kills by Aris Wong, and a double block by Kainoa Mitchell and Aaron Mochizuki accounted for Roosevelt's final three points.

The second game was tied 10 times and Roosevelt went on a 5-1 run to take a 22-18 advantage.

"We just practiced really hard," Palama said. "It was a long day at school. We came back. I told my teammates we have to suck it up and play hard."

The Tigers' Earvin Sione had 13 kills and two hitting errors, and Jericho Lopez added six kills.

"First-year player," said McKinley assistant coach Ryland Watanabe of Sione. "Anybody who watches volleyball can tell he's still pretty raw, but he's a tremendous talent athletically. He's able to make up a lot for his inexperience because of his athleticism."

Watanabe was filling in for head coach Chad Giesseman, who had work commitments.

In the Roosevelt-Castle match, the Rough Riders led 19-16 in the first game before going on a 6-1 run to end it.

The second game had 15 ties. Roosevelt served for the match at 24-23, but Palama served into the net. On the Knights' serve, they were whistled for a rotation violation, which put Roosevelt up 25-24.

"It's two people that haven't played before," said Castle coach Pat Gomes-Woolsey. "One ninth-grader and a junior who just started playing. They are very unsure of themselves, they weren't sure if they were in the correct position, plus it was a different lineup that they usually play with."

Gomes-Woolsey added that starter Christopher Diprete did not play because he had the flu.

While Palama and Rewick combined for 22 kills, the rest of the Rough Riders had just seven.

"We're the go-to guys mostly," Rewick said.

Palama added: "(Rewick) was actually a big help on the outside and the middle."

Cody Carter had five kills to lead Castle.

In the first match of the day, Castle beat McKinley, 25-11, 25-17, behind tough serving.

Kelly Berinobis served nine in a row to give the Knights a 10-1 lead in Game 1, and also served the final five points.

In the second game, Vincent Dicicco served 10 in a row to give Castle a 16-10 lead. The advantage never got below four.

Berinobis had five kills and four aces, and Carter added six kills and two aces for the Knights.

"They did a very good job," Gomes-Woolsey said. "They got most of their serves over. They only had three errors on their serves and played defense pretty well compared to what they have been."

Sione had six kills and Lopez added five for McKinley.