Raiders dethrone Buffanblu for ILH vball title

The Raiders celebrate after Punahou takes a timeout in the fourth and final set. Greg Yamamoto | SL

MAKIKI — The 2019 Hawaii boys volleyball season has truly been a game of thrones.

Iolani ended Punahou's 14-season reign in the ILH with a 23-25, 25-19, 25-21, 25-19 win Tuesday night in the league's Division I championship match before a crowd of 1,000 at Hemmeter Fieldhouse.

It was the Raiders' eighth consecutive victory and their third win straight over the Buffanblu — all within a span of a week — as Iolani captured its first ILH title since 2003, when boys volleyball was played during the Fall sports season.

Iolani also earned a seeded state berth and a first round bye in next week's Division I state tournament, which seemed like a long shot after finishing third in the league's first round behind reigning state champion Punahou and Kamehameha, who ended the Buffanblu's winning streak over Hawaii opponents at 47.

But the Raiders kept grinding (11-4) and have been perfect since the start of April en route to their fourth ILH title in school history.

"It feels real good," said Iolani setter Shane Harimoto, who dished out a 42 assists. "We got off to a little of a slow start in the season, but we went to work and it got us to where we are now.

Kupono Browne had 19 kills and 11 digs and Kawika Lee chipped in 12 kills to power the Raiders' attack.

"Kupono and Kawika are big," said Harimoto. "They're able to carry our offense through certain tough points. They were huge for us today."

Right-side hitter Makana Hiltner added nine kills and middles Kalawai Scanlan and Carter Kamana each had four kills of their own. Libero Jarin Simon stabilized the back row with solid passes and finished with eight digs.

"We just did it for each other," said Harimoto, who added three aces and two kills. "No one is going out there just playing for themselves, playing for each other was key."

Outside of a slow start to the match, Iolani outperformed the Buffanblu. The Raiders outblocked Punahou (11 to 8) and had less hitting errors (21 to 29) and less service errors (4 to 10).

"They outhustled us...yeah, they did everything better than us, including just fight and battle and want every ball," said Punahou coach Rick Tune. "We're going to have to make some emotional adjustments more than anything."

It's a rare spot to be in for the Buffanblu (12-4), who have won the last seven state titles. They will likely host the OIA's third or fourth place team next Monday night.

"We got a lot of work to do," said Tune. "Our execution wasn't very good in so many aspects of the game. I take full responsibility, our coaching staff takes full responsibility. We're going to work to give our players the best preparation over the next week to make the correction and we'll see how it goes. We have every confidence in these guys. They can do this, we just have to execute better. There's no magic to it."

Kawai Hong led the Buffanblu in the loss with 17 kills and eight digs. Claudio Clini added 10 kills and three blocks and Jack Deuchar and Robbie Allen each had nine kills.

Reach Michael Lasquero at [email protected].