Punahou sweeps Iolani to remain unbeaten

Punahou's Madisyn Beirne (right) finished with a game-high 12 kills in the Buffanblu's win. Cody Ford | Special to SL

KAPIOLANI — Undefeated Punahou improved to 5-0 in Interscholastic League of Honolulu Division I play with a 25-19, 25-19 sweep on the road over Iolani.

Madisyn Beirne put down a match-high 12 kills, Kaia Dunford added nine kills and two aces and Aleah Liilii had seven kills and a block, helping Punahou notch a win on Iolani's home floor for the first time in eight tries — a streak dating back to Sept. 27, 2016.

"Overall, our team is really good at doing a lot of the little things. Everybody has their job and everyone came in today knowing what we had to do," said Beirne.

It was a back-and-forth first set with neither team enjoying more than a two-point cushion until the Buffanblu went on a 5-0 spurt, trailing 18-16, with kills from Beirne and Liilii and a big block by Grace Fiaseu and Beirne to push the visiting team out to a 21-18 advantage.

A pair of Liilii kills stretched the Punahou lead to 23-19, and Beirne put down the set winner a point later.

Set No. 2 saw the Buffanblu race out to a 8-2 advantage with Dunford putting down three of those points; two of them kills and the other an ace. That advantage quickly ballooned to as large as 17-7 before the Raiders clawed their way back, getting as close as 20-15 on Rebecca Sakoda's sixth kill of the night.

"We knew Iolani was a really good second set team. We tried to stay more calm and ready, and I think that helped us pull ahead," added Beirne.

Iolani ultimately got to within four points at 23-19, but a Dunford kill got the Buffanblu to match point and Liilii put down the game winner a point later.

Sakoda and Mari Lawton led the host Raiders with six kills each, with Lawton adding in three total blocks.

Punahou setter Chloe Kaahanui dished out 21 assists and added a block and ace. Her counterpart, Mokihana Tufono, finished the afternoon with 17 assists and two blocks.