Punahou wins seventh straight boys volleyball title
By Billy Hull bhull@staradvertiser.com
May 6, 2018
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BRUCE ASATO / BASATO@STARADVERTISER.COM
Punahou players celebrated their state championship victory over Moanalua on Saturday.
BRUCE ASATO / BASATO@STARADVERTISER.COM
Punahou’s Kana’i Akana and Robert Allen get a block on Moanalua’s Kalai Leopoldo in the first set of the State Boys DI Volleyball Championship match between Moanalua and Punahou at Blaisdell Center, Saturday, May 5, 2018.
Punahou’s dominance in boys volleyball hasn’t looked quite as one-sided as it did Saturday night.
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Punahou’s dominance in boys volleyball hasn’t looked quite as one-sided as it did Saturday night.
For just the second time in the Buffanblu’s streak of seven consecutive state titles, Punahou swept the final, beating Moanalua 25-19, 25-16, 25-21 in the New City Nissan/HHSAA Boys Volleyball State Championships at Blaisdell Arena.
Senior Ryan Wilcox hit .361 and put down a match-high 17 kills for Punahou (12-0), which has now won 36 of the 50 state titles in boys volleyball since the first one in 1969.
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In 13 victories against Hawaii competition this season, the Buffanblu dropped only two sets, including one in a four-set semifinal win over Kealakehe.
“This group checked all the boxes. This group didn’t have any holes,” Punahou coach Rick Tune said. “This comes along once or twice in a career. I don’t want people to get used to this.”
Setter Jameson McKibbin fell two assists shy of Micah Ma’a’s school state tournament final record of 42. One of four seniors in the starting lineup, McKibbin added a kill, six digs and two block assists.
“I thought we played a really clean game of volleyball,” McKibbin said. “I set a pretty decent offense, but thank God our hitters make me look a lot better than I set.”
Wilcox, the reigning All-State player of the year, was in complete control from the outset. His six kills in the opening set allowed Punahou to take a 1-0 lead without trailing in the set.
Moanalua hung tight in the second set and led 11-10 when Wilcox hammered a kill to start an 8-0 run.
Wilcox served four aces during the run, including three straight to help force Moanalua into calling both of its timeouts.
Punahou finished with eight aces in the match and hit .279 as a team.
“Winning the state championship is the goal for us, and to be able to achieve that this year and the past years is a great feeling,” Wilcox said. “Technically we were on it, but emotionally, that was probably the best emotional game we had. It was really fun, and when we’re having fun I would say that’s when we have our most successful game.”
Punahou got sloppy for a moment in the third set, allowing Moanalua to get two quick points to make it 15-12.
An overpass was right there for Moanalua to cut the deficit to two, but a miscommunication between two hitters, who both went up to put the ball down, resulted in a mis-hit and a Punahou point.
Moanalua pulled to 24-21 on senior Kalai Leopoldo’s fifth kill, but a serving error, one of six by Na Menehune, ended it.
“We had a couple little spells in there where we got a little wobbly,” Tune said. “We were able to just be resilient and hang through.”
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