Punahou breaks down Waiakea

Ten days after winning the ILH Division I championship, No. 1 Punahou hasn’t skipped a beat.

It took just 77 minutes for the undefeated Buffanblu to dismantle Waiakea 25-17, 25-21, 25-18 in the Division I quarterfinals of the New City Nissan/HHSAA Boys Volleyball Championship at Hemmeter Fieldhouse on Saturday.

Although the Buffanblu (14-0) never faced the Warriors (12-3) this season, the team scouted Waiakea’s tendencies in Friday’s first-round match.

"We kind of approached it like it’s a regular-season game because you want to have the right mind-set going into it, especially with our young guys," senior Larry Tuileta said. The All-State outside hitter set the bar for the underclassmen with 14 kills and nine digs.

Kamahao Paio led Waiakea with 11 kills, followed by Mamane Namahoe’s 10.

The Buffanblu pulled away early in the first set, with Micah Ma‘a at the service line. Ma‘a served six straight points to give Punahou an 18-10 cushion. Three straight Punahou service errors and an ace brought Waiakea within six points, but the lead was too large to overcome.

Sophomore setter Wil Stanley distributed the offense evenly, but once again Tuileta provided a reliable outlet from the front and back row. The USC recruit ran through his collection of shots with off-speed rolls from the back court and sharp-hitting angles skimming the 10-meter line.

Stanley also connected with 6-foot-8 middle Daniel Andrews, who finished with eight kills and hit .538.

BIIF runner-up Waiakea held its own in the second set, keeping even with the Buffanblu until 17-17. The Warriors challenged Punahou’s taller block and received most of their kills with off-the-touch swings.

Despite its improvement in hitting, Waiakea struggled with its serve, committing four early service errors. When Punahou held a 19-18 lead in the set, the Warriors dropped four straight points on unforced errors, forcing coach Ecko Osorio to call two straight timeouts.

"There’s a lot of random things that happened during the game that our boys haven’t gone through enough times to really capitalize on," Osorio said. "I tried to get them to believe that we could take them, and I thought the boys pretty much bought into that."

The Warriors responded with a thundering back-row kill from Namahoe and an ace by Ty Nishimura, which made Punahou coach Rick Tune call his first and only timeout of the match.

With the score at 23-20, the Buffanblu relied on their go-to hitter as Tuileta pounded down an angle shot from the right side. Punahou’s Akahi Troske mis-hit an awkward set from the middle, but found a sliver of space between the Waiakea block and the net to earn the kill.

With two sets under their belt, the Buffanblu steamrolled Waiakea in the third with a 15-8 lead. The Warriors tried to find their way through Punahou’s double, and occasional triple, block, but were stuffed seven times in the match.

Ma‘a hammered his eighth kill for the aloha ball, and another Punahou block clinched the win.

With a perfect season on the line, Tune feels his Buffanblu squad is peaking at the right time and came out with the right amount of focus and intensity for the quarterfinal match.

"That was about the best we executed a game plan all year. We’ve waxed and waned a little bit, but they showed up today and really executed," Tune said. "(Waiakea) does an exceptional job in a lot of different areas, so we are fortunate to get this win against a real tough, real quality, real well-coached opponent. Hopefully we can build on it for the semis and hopefully we can get another opportunity for another state championship."

Punahou, the two-time reigning state champ, will face No. 4 seed King Kekaulike in the semifinals on Friday at McKinley. No. 2 Moanalua will take on No. 3 Kamehameha-Hawaii in the second semifinal.

KING KEKAULIKE 3, WAIANAE 1

Colton Cowell and Lionel Mills had 17 kills each to help host and fourth-seeded Na Alii beat the Seariders 25-15, 25-12, 23-25, 25-19. Keanu Pua-Aulele had 15 kills in the loss.

KAMEHAMEHA-HAWAII 3, KAMEHAMEHA 1

Evan Enriques had 28 kills and Emmett Enriques added 11 to help host and third-seeded Kamehameha-Hawaii beat Kamehameha 24-26, 25-22, 25-19, 27-25. Kamehameha-Hawaii will face Moanalua in the semifinals. Kaehu Kaaa had 21 kills in the loss.

MOANALUA 3, BALDWIN 0

Austin Matautia had 10 kills and Victor Zamudio had nine as host and second-seeded Moanalua defeated Baldwin 25-13, 25-7, 25-11. Ryan Garces had seven kills in the loss. 

D-II BRACKET RELEASED

Kapaa is the top seed in the Division II tournament that starts Thursday. In quarterfinal matches at Farrington, Kapaa plays Honokaa, and No. 4 Kailua plays Hawaii Baptist, the three-time state champion. At McKinley, No. 3 Ka‘u plays Aiea and No. 2 Seabury Hall meets Hanalani. The championship is scheduled for Saturday at 5 p.m.