Ethan Siegfried slammed six kills and Ryan Wilcox had four kills and five aces as five-time defending state champion Punahou routed Kamehameha 25-15, 25-11 before an audience of about 200 at Hemmeter Fieldhouse.
Punahou improved to 2-0 in Interscholastic League of Honolulu boys volleyball play. Kamehameha, under first-year head coach Randy Nako, slipped to 0-3 — all three matches coming on the road.
“Punahou, like always, played great. They served great,” said Nako, a former longtime assistant girls volleyball coach at Punahou. “We’re young and there are so many players who have never played varsity. We’ve just have to play as hard as we can and keep evolving. We’re going to be patient.”
The Buffanblu had 10 aces in all with nine service errors. In addition to powerful jump serves by Wilcox, a 6-foot-3 junior, Kana‘i Akana added two aces, 6-5 junior Buddy Scott tallied one and setter D.J. McInerny two.
McInerny, who had all 11 of his assists in the first set, is one of just three seniors on the roster. Siegfried and Easton Kaya are the other two.
“We were kind of worried with our nine new (varsity) players, but we have good synergy,” Siegfried said. “You can put anyone in the game and there’s a good connection.”
McInerny, who also had an ace, agreed.
“I guess what’s somewhat surprising is our new players are learning super quick, adapting to a high level of intensity on the varsity level. It’s quicker and everyone’s bigger. Now we’re super comfortable having anybody,” he said.
Akana, a 6-4 junior, added three kills and two assists, all in the opening game. Scott finished with two kills, two assists and one ace. The Buffanblu reserves did most of the work in the second set.
“We want to execute at a high level, always. Kamehameha is a much better team than they showed tonight,” Punahou coach Rick Tune said. “We had the benefit of having no basketball players, so we’ve had two, three weeks (of practice), right off their club (season). The talent in the gym, and the execution is as high as it’s ever been at this point of the season, and that’s a credit to our new guys.”
The Buffanblu were in control from the start with Wilcox at serve. McInerny dished with balance, setting up Wilcox, Siegfried and Akana, and after an ace by Jameson McKibbin, Punahou led 6-1.
Kamehameha fell behind by seven points, but chipped away and got within 11-6 after a block by Branson Downing and a service error by the home team.
From there, Punahou went on an 8-2 run, spurred by aces from McInerny and Wilcox. The Warriors got no closer than eight points after that.
Punahou’s serve was overpowering in the second set. Wilcox had three of his team’s four aces during an 11-1 blitz and Tune emptied his bench.
Kamehameha played without senior Hookela Hanohano, a key part of the serve-receive corps. He suffered an injury after the Warriors’ match at ‘Iolani.
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