Raiders sweep Buffanblu to lock up state berth

Elena Oglivie puts down a kill attempt against Punahou. Oglivie put down a match-high 24 kills in a straight set win over the Buffanblu, Greg Yamamoto | SL

Iolani struggled at times, but dug deep when it needed to, posting a 30-28, 25-14, 25-19 victory over Punahou in a Saturday afternoon tilt at Iolani's Lower Gymnasium.

The Raiders trailed by as many as nine points in set one at 20-11, and staved off the Buffanblu at 24-21 on the back of Elena Oglivie, who put down a pair of kills to bring Iolani to within a point at 24-23, and then ended the first set at 30-28 with an emphatic cross court shot that the Punahou back line was unable to catch up to.

Winning the opening set was huge to say the least for Iolani, and seemed to both catalyze and galvanize a Raiders' squad.

"Towards the middle and in the end (of the first set) I thought we just had a good momentum shift, we '180-flipped' it, we like to call it that, and just pushed hard and got the win," said Oglivie.

Iolani took care of Punahou fairly handily in the second set, 25-19, with Oglivie putting down seven kills and assisting on two blocks to lead the way.

Despite the 2-0 set deficit, Punahou maintained composure and pushed Iolani in the third, jumping out to a 10-6 lead, but the home team rallied back once again, taking the lead for good at the 18-17 mark.

A Becca Sakoda ace brought the Raiders to match point at 24-18 and Sasha Petticord's fourth kill of the afternoon ended it two points later.

Oglivie finished the match with a game-high 24 kills and four blocks, and setter Kristen McDaniel dished out 40 assists to go along with 2 kills and a pair of aces.

Punahou was paced by Sinalaulii Uluave's 20 kills and two blocks, with Kamaile Manol adding six kills and four blocks in the loss.

The win assured the Raiders an all-important berth in the upcoming HHSAA Division I state tournament, though the league championship and seeded berth remains up for grabs.

Iolani will face off with Kamehameha on Tuesday, with a Raiders' win forcing a winner-take-all rematch on Wednesday.

The Warriors have won all three matches with the Raiders this season, and haven't dropped a set to Iolani this season.

"I thought this game (versus Punahou) helped become a little bit tougher," said Oglivie. "We've talked about getting tougher and the mindset of getting tougher, and I think coming back from such a big deficit (in the first set) definitely helped us become stronger."