‘Iolani outlasts, eliminates Punahou in volleyball

It was only five days ago when ‘Iolani had gone a full month without winning a match.

The defending Division I state champion won the two matches that mattered the most however, outlasting Punahou 25-17, 17-25, 25-14, 33-31 on Tuesday to earn the ILH’s second berth in the state tournament starting next week.

‘Iolani (6-7), which finished second behind Kamehameha in the ILH’s first round, was winless through its first five matches of the second round before sweeping Punahou on Friday.

The loss dropped Punahou (5-8) out of contention for the second-round title when Kamehameha won on Saturday to clinch the ILH championship.

That left Punahou and ‘Iolani playing off Tuesday for the league’s second state berth. Behind a raucous standing-room only home crowd, the Raiders won it on their seventh match point when Punahou hit long to set off a wild celebration for a team that very nearly didn’t get a chance to defend its state title.

“For me, experiencing states last year as a freshman was an unreal experience,” said reigning state player of the year Elena Oglivie, who had a match-high 26 kills. “To be able to take our freshmen to states is something I really wanted to do for them.”

‘Iolani has had to play as many as three freshmen at times this year with injuries to five players.

After sweeping Punahou on Sept. 12, which included another 33-31 set win, the Raiders dropped 16 of their next 20 sets and went 31 days without a victory.

“Our league is solid. One through four all teams can probably win the state championship and we went through some injuries during that stretch,” ‘Iolani coach Kainoa Obrey said. “We kind of got back to the point where we recovered fully and today we had all hands available.”

Saige Ka’aha’aina-Torres, the only senior on the team, added 23 kills with 10 coming in the final set.

A block by Oglivie and junior middle Sasha Petticord gave ‘Iolani its first match point at 25-24.

Punahou senior Amalia Hilliard landed her 15th kill of the match to tie it up at 25 and added two more kills on ‘Iolani match points to eventually tie the game at 30-all.

Buffanblu senior Savana Greene nailed her 16th kill to give Punahou its second set point at 31-30.

Obrey called a timeout and ‘Iolani rolled off three straight points on a kill by Oglivie, an ace by Grace Wee and a Punahou hitting error.

“When we got into the 30s, I was a little bit nervous, but then I felt like we had been here before and our team has got this,” Ka’aha’aina-Torres said. “We handled it very well.”

‘Iolani junior setter Kristen McDaniel finished with a match-high 47 assists and was singled out by Obrey for her performance.

“She has been playing the last couple of matches really well,” Obrey said. “She is staying in the moment and finding the right kids at the right time, making good decisions, putting up hittable balls and she’s really progressed.”

This is the first time ‘Iolani will play in three consecutive state tournaments. Punahou hasn’t reached states since 2014 and hasn’t had a three-year stretch without advancing since 1991.