Kamehameha wards off Punahou again

No. 2 Punahou brought the noise, but it wasn’t nearly enough to narrow the gap between it and No. 1 Kamehameha.

Kayla Afoa had nine kills, six of them in the second set, and the Warriors beat the Buffanblu 25-15, 25-21 in front of a packed house and OC 16’s television cameras at Punahou on Tuesday night.

It was Kamehameha’s second win over the defending state champs this season, and it was much like the first. The Warriors won that one 25-22, 25-16.

"Kamehameha is definitely the team to beat," Punahou coach Tanya Fuamatu-Anderson said. "They are just as sharp as they were the first time we played them, but we are right behind them. They displayed a good example of ball control, and that is the difference between them and us right now."

Kamehameha’s ball control comes from all over the court, as every player seems equally adept at offense and defense. The Warriors got kills from six different players in the sweep and made it almost impossible for the Buffanblu to put the ball on the floor. The Buffanblu had 14 kills and 11 errors to the Warriors’ 29 and 11.

"We stress that the strength of our team is our team," Kamehameha coach Chris Blake said. "It was a great team W — our outsides produced pretty well today and our block was excellent. We didn’t get a lot of stuff blocks, but it forced them into plays that we had an ability to pick up on defense."

The defense drove Kamehameha, led by numerous sprawling digs by libero Mia Heirakuji and an inspired effort in the back by her teammates. That defense was awesome last week and got even better at the Durango Tournament in Las Vegas, where Kamehameha took second against a field of the best teams in the country.

"I think it helped us to play at a higher level tonight," Heirakuji said. "The girls up there were really good and Remo (Gaogao) is really good, so it helped us make adjustments against Punahou’s best hitters."

Punahou, which visits Mid-Pacific on Saturday and won’t see Kamehameha again until Oct. 19, rolled over in the first set, but rallied to make it close in the second. After being down eight points, 22-14, the Bufanblu closed it to 23-20 when setter Kayla Higa beat Heirakuji for an ace. Blake called Kamehameha’s only timeout of the match at that point to remind the Warriors that the end game had arrived, and Kealani Browne responded with a roof of McKenna Rose Granato to force aloha ball. Granato buried a crosscourt kill after a Punahou timeout, and Afoa ended it with a kill down the line.

That gave Kamehameha, which lost to Punahou in the state-title match last year, its second sweep over the Buffanblu.