Showdown time turned into dynasty rule time for the Punahou Buffanblu.
Avenging a pool-play defeat, No. 1 Punahou swept No. 2 Moanalua 25-16, 25-21 on Saturday afternoon in the championship match of the Hawaii Boys Volleyball Invitational at ‘Iolani School gym.
Junior Ethan Siegfried was on fire with nine kills in Punahou’s balanced attack. Setters Todd Greubner (14 assists) and D.J. McInerny (13) distributed across the court fluidly and efficiently. Ryan Wilcox had seven kills, middle ‘Akahi Troske banged five and Wil Stanley had four kills plus an ace for the Buffanblu, who had gone years without losing to Hawaii competition until Friday’s pool-play action.
“We just had a little more fire today. We knew what we had to do to win,” Siegfried said. “We played like we didn’t have anything to lose this time.”
Longtime coach Rick Tune called the pool-play defeat on Friday a “good loss.”
“It’s one more step toward our ultimate goal,” he said. “It’s hard. Sometimes they carry a little more pressure into a match. They haven’t lost in three or four years to a Hawaii team. I told them, I’m glad they got it out of the way. Now the undefeated thing is done.
“Now we just play ball. Play with a little more passion, a little more intensity. A little more focused attention to detail. You saw quicker reads on assignments. Quicker execution of plays. That’s what we talked a lot about,” he said.
Unlike Friday’s battle, when Moanalua trailed 1-0 and rallied to win the last two sets, Punahou played with an unleashed vibe.
“They beat us (Friday) night, credit to Moanalua. They pushed us to raise our level,” Tune added.
Moanalua coach Alan Cabanting credited the Buffanblu’s serve game.
“It was definitely more technical today. For the most part, we wanted to serve and pass well and we did better (on Friday). Today, Punahou did better when (on Friday) they were struggling with their serve. We know they’re beatable, but we have to be pinpoint on serves.”
One of Moanalua’s major factors in the upset win Friday was Austin Matautia’s serving. On Saturday, he was long most of the time and wasn’t able to put the same kind of pressure on the Buffanblu defense.
With Punahou handling Moanalua’s serve, the bigs up front got rolling, and Moanalua had inconsistency with passing. Punahou had just two aces, but kept Na Menehune off balance. Moanalua was within 11-10 in the first set, but Sam Bradley had two huge blocks during a 10-4 Buffanblu run. Kanai Akana added another roof during the blitz.
Troske, a 6-foot-6 senior who was a recent Star-Advertiser All-State selection in basketball, added a kill and Stanley delivered a kill from the back row as Punahou made it look rather easy.
Moanalua never got action going through the middle, relying on Matautia heavily in the second set. The almost 6-5 senior walloped nine of his 12 kills in game two, but Na Menehune fell behind 10-7 and never got over the hump. Junior Zach Miyamoto’s kill helped them cut the lead from a five-point deficit to 17-14.
Wilcox’s ace, which tipped the top of the net and caromed into a gap for an ace, sparked a 5-2 run by the Buffanblu. Two more blocks by Bradley spurred the run.
Moanalua hung tough and got within 23-20 when Matautia had another service error. The head official had a long talk with Stanley, Punahou’s captain, about the barking from the end of the bench by Troske during Matautia’s serve.
No penalty was assessed, and Wilcox hammered the final kill a moment later.
Justin Fong added four kills and Nalu Demello had three for Moanalua. Miyamoto dished 19 assists.