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‘Iolani had the grit, but Punahou came up clutch.
Grace Fiaseu crushed 17 kills as Punahou edged ‘Iolani 25-11, 19-25, 25-9, 21-25, 15-9 on Tuesday night to capture the regular-season title and a berth into the HHSAA state tournament.
Punahou finished the regular season 7-2, ahead of ‘Iolani (6-3) and Kamehameha (6-3).
“It feels amazing. For me and my seniors this year, it’s amazing,” said Fiaseu, who also had four blocks.
Punahou’s balanced attack was a relentless, often unstoppable force from the start. Lucky-Rose Williams tallied 14 kills and six blocks, Belle Iosua had 13 kills, three aces and one block, and Lulu Uluave had 11 kills, two blocks and one ace for the Buffanblu.
Senior setter Jaclyn Matias dished out 51 assists, adding four kills and an ace. Fiaseu, though, proved to be incredibly difficult to stop on Matias’ quick sets to the middle. Fiaseu’s dexterity left ‘Iolani scrambling against her bazooka shots and feathery placement touches.
Coach Tita Ahuna knew a road match at ‘Iolani would be a fierce challenge, especially with a state berth on the line.
“It’s always hard going to a home-school gym that’s not yours, especially on senior night, to play. ‘Iolani has a great team, well coached and we’re just happy we came out with a victory tonight. It could’ve gone either way,” Ahuna said.
“Two keys, we had to come out with lots of energy. We normally start slow and then we try to fight back. But we wanted to get out front early and we did that. And we wanted to establish our middles, especially starting with our passing, and we did that. So I’m very happy.”
Senna Roberts-Navarro had 15 kills and Anuhea Hauanio-Lore added 12 and a block to pace the Raiders. Ambri Hanohano tallied eight kills and senior setter Mokihana Tufono had 37 assists and one ace.
Punahou roared to a wipeout win in set one behind five kills by Iosua, four kills and three blocks by Williams, and four kills and one block by Fiaseu.
As usual, however, ‘Iolani got scrappy and pulled out a win in the second set. Hauanio-Lore and Hanohano had five kills each, and two aces by Maya Imoto-Eakin helped the Raiders pull away from a 17-all tie.
The Buffanblu were devastating in set three, rolling to a 10-1 lead. Williams added five more kills with one block as the visitors took a 2-1 edge in the match.
With their home crowd of parents and students cheering on, ‘Iolani rallied from a 9-3 deficit in set four. Hauanio-Lore caught fire with six kills as the Raiders rallied. Hauanio-Lore tied the game at 21 with a kill, and consecutive errors by Punahou allowed ‘Iolani to open a two-point lead. Hauanio-Lore put the set away with two more kills, tying the match.
Punahou left no doubt, however, in the fifth set. Williams had two quick kills as the visitors opened a 6-1 lead. ‘Iolani got no closer than four points the rest of the way as Williams added two more kills, and Uluave had three of her kills to launch the Buffanblu to the state tourney.
The ILH playoff tournament will determine the winner of a second state berth. The tourney winner will meet Punahou for the league title, unless the Buffanblu take the tourney.
Punahou is ranked No. 2 in the Star-Advertiser Girls Volleyball Top 10 and ‘Iolani is No. 3. Kamehameha, which saw the return of national team outside hitter Devin Kahahawai recently, is ranked No. 1.
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