Punahou clinches with victory

Punahou’s offense was late to the party at Kapalama Heights. Not a recommended ingredient for brewing a recipe of success against seven-time defending state champion Kamehameha.

But the patient Buffanblu served up their own winning formula and the state’s top-ranked team triumphed 25-19, 25-23 over its chief rival on Friday afternoon at Kekuhaupio Gym, clinching the first of two available Interscholastic League of Honolulu state berths for Punahou.

No one player had more than six kills for Punahou (7-0), which wore down mistake-prone Kamehameha (4-2) through attrition. Long rallies usually fell the way of the Buffanblu.

"We work on that in practice a lot. We do continuous drills so that we don’t get tired," said junior setter Tayler Higgins, who had 18 assists. "Even though we don’t get a kill, we’ve got to play the ball until it drops. That’s how we got some points. You’ve got to make the other team make a mistake."

The Nos. 1 and 2 teams in the Star-Advertiser Top 10 hadn’t seen each other since the start of ILH play nearly a month ago. Both parties agreed the other had made strides since Punahou’s 26-24, 25-18 win, and clearly Punahou had taken the farther ones.

Peter Balding’s team knows it must remain sharp and continue to improve. Last year, Punahou swept Kamehameha in the regular season, only to have its unblemished record come to an end at the Warriors’ hands in the state title game.

"You know, this is a measuring stick. If you can come up here and play well and be in control of your emotions, you’re OK," Balding said. "This is a huge challenge for any team, especially us."

Junior hitter Carly Kan led Punahou with six kills, while junior middle Brittney Markwith added five kills and three blocks.

Punahou put down just two kills among its first 16 points, but the Buffanblu back row made itself comfortable and waited like a buzzard camping out prey until Kamehameha erred. Finally, senior hitter Tai Manu-Olevao put down the go-ahead kill to make it 17-16, sparking a 9-3 run to take Game 1.

"We talk about the idea of ball control and if we don’t have something, we just gotta put it in the court and trust in our defense," Balding said. "It’s got a chance to at least get us back in the point. That’s kind of the way we train. We’ll hit the best shot that we can given the set. Some sets are going to give us a better shot, a better hit. Then reset and scramble on defense, try to keep the ball alive."

Game 2 legitimately felt like Kamehameha’s to take at several points. The Warriors led 13-10 on a solo block by sophomore setter Faith Ma‘afala. Then Punahou rattled off a 6-0 spurt and Kamehameha was never quite able to gain a tying point from there.

Punahou established match point on Markwith’s quick-set kill from Higgins. Kamehameha’s response was a shot by Alohi Robins-Hardy, but the sophomore’s ball to extend the match landed just long.

"We stayed steady, we were talking about staying steady," said Kamehameha coach Chris Blake. "But we gave up one big run in the middle of that second set, we went from up three to down three. And then we were chasing after that. We have to do a better job converting … a lot of it is due to what Punahou did, a lot of it is things we have to improve on. Things we’ll have to do a lot better if we want to be competitive next time we play."

The teams meet again on Oct. 18 at Kamehameha to cap ILH second-round play.

"Today, they were the better team," said Warriors senior Misty Ma‘a, who had a match-high 11 kills.