Elena Oglivie smacked 17 kills and Mokihana Tufono added eight as No. 2 ‘Iolani swept No. 5 Punahou 25-14, 25-23, 25-14 at Hemmeter Fieldhouse on Tuesday night.
Kristen McDaniel directed traffic for the Raiders and finished with 33 assists, one ace and five timely kills on dump shots. Middle Sasha Petticord was key in the middle with four kills and four blocks.
‘Iolani (7-3) will meet No. 1 Kamehameha on Thursday in the second round of the ILH’s double-elimination tournament. Kamehameha has already secured a state berth by winning the regular season.
“Any win here is pretty sweet for us. I feel pretty good. We had a good week of practice. It’s nice to see a lot of the things we focused on translate into a match,” ‘Iolani coach Kainoa Obrey said. “Punahou played a lot better that second set. In our league, teams are good. If we get so overwhelmed by runs and by them playing better, then it’s tough to stay in the set. We played point by point and stayed in the moment rather than jumping back or jumping ahead. Our girls did a great job of that and closed well.”
Composure was crucial for the visitors.
“Punahou played really good in the second set,” said Oglivie, who also had several digs and a block. “They were digging a lot of our balls and playing good defense. We played our game and executed what we had to execute. I thought we all played some really good defense.”
‘Iolani got a spark from Grace Wee, who took over at libero recently after Naya Dong suffered a season-ending injury.
“Gracie did well and I felt Moki played some really good defense,” Oglivie added.
Punahou (3-7) got eight kills from Madisyn Beirne and seven kills apiece from middle Kamaile Manol and outside hitter Sina Uluave. The home team couldn’t sustain rallies against an ‘Iolani squad that seemingly dug everything Punahou offered.
“Kudos to ‘Iolani. They came here hungry,” said Punahou coach Tanya Fuamatu-Anderson, whose team will meet Maryknoll on Thursday. “We’ve just got to get better at stringing points together. We’ve got to turn things around in the next 48 hours.”
The visitors opened the first set with a 14-5 run, getting four kills and a block from Oglivie. Punahou got no closer than seven the rest of the set.
Punahou’s balanced attack seized momentum in the second game. Uluave had five kills in the second and Isabelle Iosua added three kills and a block. The Buffanblu took their first lead of the match, 4-3, on a block by Iosua on Oglivie. The lead changed hands three more times midway through the second, with Punahou opening the lead to 19-16 after kills by Iosua and Beirne.
Petticord and Oglivie came through with kills, and an ace by Izzy Sakoda tied the game at 19.
The Raiders took a 23-22 lead on a hitting error by Uluave, but she got it back with her last kill of the set to tie it up. Tufono clutched up with a right-side kill and a roof on Uluave to give ‘Iolani a 2-0 lead in the match.
The Raiders then dominated the third set, with aces by Wee, Ashley Murashige, Tufono and McDaniel. The visitors finished the match with five aces to Punahou’s two, and also had the edge in blocks, 8-3.
‘Iolani hit .320 for the night. Punahou hit .194.
