Warriors start with sweep

Keonilei Akana drilled seven kills to lead a balanced attack in No. 2 Kamehameha’s 26-24, 25-21 sweep of No. 3 Punahou on Thursday night at Hemmeter Fieldhouse.

The match was the season opener in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu for both teams.

Akana was especially effective from the back row on Lexis Akeo’s precise sets. Akana also had one of her team’s two aces, and though the count wasn’t high, it was the Warriors’ serve that kept the dangerous Buffanblu from blasting away full throttle.

“Every season is different. It’s a process of where we’re at and where we progress from here. We were pumped and we’re happy to get the win,” said senior Kili Robins, who had three kills. “Throughout the game, we always talk about calming down and controlling ourselves. We always talk about unforced errors, so we controlled that.”

Kamehameha also got five kills, one ace and two blocks from 6-foot middle Braelyn Akana and four kills by Malie McClure. Akeo finished with 23 assists and one block.

“I like the way we gutted it out,” Warriors coach Chris Blake said. “Punahou is a very, very good team with a lot of great players. We came out great and settled down, kept the pressure on in Set 2 and we were very happy with some of our execution. We did play some preseason matches. However it’s always different when you go live, especially with four solid teams in the ILH. We saw a lot of potential today.”

Amalia Hilliard led Punahou with eight kills. Setter Tessa Adams-Kaonohi had 14 assists, three kills and two blocks. Middle Kamaile Mano added three kills, one ace and one block, and Isabelle Bauer tallied three kills, two blocks and one ace.

In all, Kamehameha hit .217 and Punahou hit .111. The Buffanblu also had two aces and got an edge in blocks 6-5.

“There’s a lot of positives. The kids are hungry and competing every day at practice,” Buffanblu coach Tanya Fuamatu-Anderson said. “It’s a nice new beginning and there’s a freshness about it. Win or lose, we’ve got to keep fighting. There’s no time to hang our heads and wallow. We’ve got to get back to the drawing board and learn from our mistakes.”

Occasional unforced errors marked the match on both sides of the net, as expected in a season opener. Punahou had a 19-17 lead in the opening set on a step-out kill by Bauer and a block by Mano. However, Kamehameha scored the next three points, including a kill by Braelyn Akana and a hitting error by the home team.

Down 23-22, Punahou tied the game on a service error by Kamehameha, then took the lead on a back-row kill by Hilliard. However, a service error by the Buffanblu gave the Warriors a break. McClure then recorded her first and second kills of the match to give Kamehameha the opening-set win.

Kamehameha hit .333 in the first set, but committed two hitting errors in the first two points of the second set, matching their hitting-error total of the first set. The teams combined for 11 hitting or serving errors by the time it was tied at 8-all. Then the Warriors went on a 9-2 run, getting kills from McClure, Braelyn Akana and Keonilei Akana for a 17-10 lead.

Punahou got within 22-18 on a block by Bauer, but got no closer.