Punahou three-peats in ILH after topping Kamehameha

Punahou OH Tai Manu-Olevao puts down a kill attempt against Kamehameha. Brien Ing | SL

Tai Manu-Olevao had a match-high 20 kills and Carly Kan added 11 kills and two aces last night as Punahou defeated Kamehameha, 25-19, 20-25, 25-17, 25-21, to win its third straight Interscholastic League of Honolulu girls volleyball championship.

An estimated crowd of about 500 at Kekuhaupi'o Gym watched the Buffanblu finish ILH play at 12-0 and earn the league's top seed and first-round bye in next week's Division I state tournament. The Warriors (9-3) is the ILH's other representative and will begin play in Wednesday's opening round.
"They're gonna come at us next week," Punahou coach Peter Balding said of Kamehameha, "so we gotta go back and start over. There's still a bunch of stuff we need to clean up."
The Buffanblu swept the Warriors in their first two regular season meetings this season and looked well on their way after a first-set victory last night, but Kamehameha came back strong, closing out Game 2 with a kill by Misty Ma'a, Pikake Laumauna's block and an ace from Faith Ma'afala.
But Punahou regained control in the third set, with Manu-Olevao and Kan each notching two kills to highlight a 7-2 run that put the Buffanblu ahead, 21-14. The Warriors could not get closer than six points thereafter.
"We started getting touches on our block, we weren't netting, and we kept our serve in -- that was huge," Balding said. "In the third set, it looked like (the Warriors) were having trouble passing in the middle."
Ma'a had a block and kill to help Kamehameha start strong in Game 4 with leads of 4-1 and 5-2, but Taylor Dayton had two blocks to spark an 8-2 run that put Punahou up, 10-7. After the Warriors closed it to 10-9 after Alohi Robins-Hardy's kill and a block by Haley Pa'akaula, Kan and Claire Feeley each had two kills during a 6-1 run that made it 16-10.
Kamehameha later closed to 20-17 on a kill by Robins-Hardy, but the Buffanblu answered with kills by Manu-Olevao and Dayton to make it 22-17 and a final serve by the Warriors at match point went into top of the net and fell straight down.
"We gave up too many points in a string," Kamehameha coach Chris Blake said. "Punahou is very disciplined and they were in system a lot. They don't make too many mistakes. They're a difficult team to beat because their girls have bought in to their system and they're playing together -- that's the key."
Feeley added seven kills and one block and Brittney Markwith and Tayler Higgins each contributed five kills for the Buffanblu. Ma'a led the Warriors with 11 kills, Robins-Hardy finished with seven kills, Amanda Wasco added six kills and three blocks and Laumauna ended up with five kills and four blocks.