Brody Badham and Adam Haidar pounded 10 kills each as top-seeded Punahou swept Mililani 25-17, 25-19, 25-19 on Friday night at Hemmeter Fieldhouse in the Division I semifinals of the New City Nissan/HHSAA Boys Volleyball State Championships.
“Offensively, yeah, awesome. They were great. Defensively, we got better as the match went on,” Punahou coach Rick Tune said. “I thought we took awhile to adjust to the height of the sets, the timing of the block. What we were talking about doing with our hands took us a little while to get in a groove. Credit to the guys. They stuck with it. They stayed patient and kept making adjustments.
ILH champion Punahou (15-0) will meet league runner-up Kamehameha for the title at Blaisdell Arena. Start time is 7 p.m. Punahou has won the past 10 state titles. On Friday night at a packed Hemmeter Fieldhouse, Buffanblu starters and the bench were relatively low-key after winning the first two sets.
“I think we’re both were looking far ahead to tomorrow. We had some good teams we had to play today. Whenever we play Kamehameha, it’s a great match. They’re a great team. Kainoa Wade’s an unreal player,” Tune said. “We’ll see who brings what tomorrow. Our strength is our unit and this is a great example of a team that plays off each other so well.”
Mililani’s scrappy defense did all it could to negate Punahou’s balanced attack, but the hits kept coming. Evan Porter and Afatia Thompson tallied nine kills apiece, while middle James Taras had eight kills and versatile Nalu Akana had six kills, 29 assists and 11 digs. Elijah Smith added 16 assists and four digs. Matthew Chun had eight digs and three assists.
“We were kind of grooving today. Nothing too special. Trying to keep our energy level and everything consistent, and kind of gain momentum for tomorrow,” Porter said. “This is a great (Mililani) team. We only get one opportunity to play the top OIA teams every year, so we took it very seriously and we’re happy to come out on top. Mililani’s really scrappy. We knew there would be balls that we hit and normally go down, and they would pick up, so we were prepared for plenty of long rallies. It was a fun game.”
Punahou’s leak-proof attack and relentless block have been unbeatable for local opponents.
Punahou’s serve was quite sloppy in the opening set, but improved significantly by the second game. The Buffanblu managed to accumulate just two aces against Mililani’s tough defense, but the effectiveness of their serve game was a factor.
“That was the best I’ve seen Mililani pass all year. We were rocketing balls at them. They were just diming them,” Tune noted. “They played great. They left it all on the floor tonight. Great team.”
Mililani (14-2) will play Moanalua for third place in a rematch of the OIA final. Evan Lehano-Foki led the Trojans with eight kills. Aris Mateo tallied seven kills, Kapena Kanuch added six, while Tyce Nakamura had 14 assists and Carson Nakamura dished 11 assists.
Trevin Matsuba had a team-high 12 digs for Mililani, which led in the second set, 3-2, and in the third, 5-4. Punahou’s precision was difficult to overcome.
“I’m just so proud of them. It’s not easy stepping against a team with that much talent and being able to fight back in situations where maybe we’re not comfortable,” Trojans coach Gabriel Maunupau said. “Just getting here and putting up a fight, that’s just nice to see.”
Mililani will come out firing against Moanalua, which beat the Trojans in five sets for the OIA title 10 days ago.
“We’ve got to get our reparations. We’ve got a shot. We won’t sulk about this loss too much. We’ll let it go, learn to move on and fight again tomorrow. Finish the year strong,” Maunupau said. “We’ll lose 11 seniors. Next year’s going to be an entire rebuild, but hopefully we’ve established enough of a culture where we’ve got a shot to be at least competitive.”
