Punahou’s depth tops Maryknoll

Rick Tune says his team is far from perfect.

Maybe “far” isn’t quite the right word.

Four Buffanblu posted at least four kills as No. 1 Punahou swept Maryknoll 25-20, 25-18 Monday night at Hemmeter Fieldhouse.

Punahou (4-0) got seven kills and two aces from sophomore Larry Tuileta to fend off the resilient Spartans. Freshman Micah Ma‘a dished out 23 assists, using a deep arsenal of weapons: Sean Gruebner (five kills), Griffin Bolan (five) and Kupono Fey (four) in addition to Tuileta.

“We ran the middles pretty hard. They go hard and I like to reward them,” said Ma‘a, brother of girls all-state player Misty Ma‘a (Kamehameha). “We started out pretty rough. Errors. We didn’t have the fire. Coach told us to tighten up the screws. Second set, we had less errors.”

Junior middle Nua Iuvale paced Maryknoll (2-2) with seven kills (.500). John Mayer (five kills) and Austin Gaskins (four) helped the visitors hit a respectable .255 against Punahou’s towering wall. Sophomore Skylan Engleman finished with 14 assists, including a couple of cross-court back sets that were on point.

“We play hard and everybody did their assignments. We could’ve done things better, but credit to Punahou. They’re a good team and everybody in the ILH and nation respects them,” Iuvale said. “We learn from our mistakes. There’s no perfect team out there.”

Every time the Spartans rose up to rally, however, the Buffanblu squashed their neighbors from across Wilder Avenue.

“We got better as the match went along. It’s pretty evident we didn’t play our best match. That’s not always going to happen, but as long as we continue to get better,” Tune said. “Maryknoll’s a good team and we knew they would make runs. When they did, we were able to match their effort. We didn’t roll over and that’s good.”

With Tuileta going without a kill on his first eight swings, Maryknoll stayed close in game one. A roof by Iuvale on Tuileta sparked the Spartans, who rallied from a seven-point deficit to within 19-18.

But Tuileta started to connect, scoring three straight points to help his team seal the game. Libero Colin Peros had three aces.

Punahou settled in during the second game, with Ma‘a finding Tuileta all over the floor. The 6-foot-2 outside hitter drilled two kills and sent down two aces as the home team turned a seven-all battle into a 16-8 lead.

Iuvale hammered three kills to help Maryknoll rally to within 21-17. However, Tuileta, Gruebner and Fey connected to close out the match.

“No matter who the team is, we have to work on bringing the same intensity every day,” Ma‘a said.

After being held scoreless through three innings, the Trojans rallied past the host Sabers.

The top-ranked Owls trailed 3-1 before rallying for four runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. Nicole Lopez singled home Keiki Carlos for the go-ahead run.

Kaya Naiwi’s single to right field in the top of the sixth inning drove in Keanui Goo to lead the Warriors past the Spartans.

Reina Furuya and Mysha Sataraka cranked two home runs apiece to lead the Buffanblu over the Saints.