Kamehameha wasn’t about to let Punahou pull off a five-set hat trick over three consecutive nights at Kekuhaupio Gym.
Kainoa Wade had 33 kills and Brayden Van Kuren had 46 assists as Kamehameha beat Punahou 25-17, 25-23, 21-25, 20-25, 18-16 in the ILH boys volleyball championship Thursday at Kamehameha.
The Warriors led the fifth set 11-6 before the Buffanblu rallied to tie it 13-13. Kamehameha served for the match at 14-13, only to have Punahou gain match point at 15-14.
The Warriors had another match point erased before scoring the final two points on a kill by Wade and a hitting error by the Buffanblu. Wade had five kills in the fifth.
“I felt like I wanted to put the team on my back and get the win,” said Wade, a sophomore. “We lost two in a row in the fifth and I wasn’t about to lose a third one.”
Punahou won the previous two nights in five sets in the ILH tournament to set up the championship match.
“We had to play three matches in a hostile gym and nearly won all three,” Punahou coach Rick Tune said. “I can’t remember the last time we had that kind of a challenge in front of us. I can’t say enough about my guys, super proud of them.”
Kamehameha will be the ILH’s seeded team and receive a first-round bye in the New City Nissan/HHSAA Boys Division I Championships, which start Monday. Punahou also will represent the league.
Throughout the match, Van Kuren went repeatedly to Wade and Heston Cabinian, who had four of his 12 kills in the fifth.
“I can put up any ball and they’ll find somewhere to kill it,” said Van Kuren, a junior.
He added his setting the previous two nights was predicable, so he went with a faster tempo Thursday.
“We tried to stay focused. We felt defeated,” Van Kuren said of the two Warriors losses.
About 90 minutes prior to the start of the match, the Hawaii men’s volleyball team defeated Penn State in five sets in the NCAA tournament semifinals in Fairfax, Va. Wade’s father, Charlie, is the head coach of the Rainbow Warriors, who will play UCLA on Saturday in the final.
“I think that win from his dad at UH fired him up for this whole match,” Kamehameha coach Sava Agpoon said.
Wade said: “My dad texted me before (the match). Winning is in the DNA.”
Kamehameha and Punahou played 28 total sets over six matches this season. Each team won three matches.
The Warriors took a 7-1 lead in the first set and never let the Buffanblu get within striking distance. Wade had six kills without an error.
There were 22 ties in the second set, with both teams’ largest lead of the set being two points.
It was tied at 23-23 before a service error by Punahou and a kill by Wade ended it.
“First two sets we were super flat. I don’t know if we were trying too hard or what,” Tune said.
The third set was tied 18-18 before Punahou pulled way. A kill by Kahale Clini, who finished with 18 kills and three aces, ended the set.
The Buffanblu went on a 10-5 run to take a 14-9 lead in the fourth. A hitting error by the Warriors ended the set.
Wade had eight hitting errors and two service errors over the third and fourth sets.
“He’s a competitor. He knows how to shake it off. We never worry about him,” Agpoon said.
On the fifth set, he said: “We tried to cut down on errors and run our offense a little faster this time around. Punahou was picking up their offense and picking up their serve.”
Punahou’s Elijah Smith finished with 29 assists and Kanalu Akana added 27. Ian Kinney had 14 kills.
