Kamehameha secures state tourney berth with playoff sweep of Punahou

Greg Yamamoto | SL

After a one year absence, Kamehameha is once again state tournament bound.

"We really fought hard, we talk about this all the time and dedicated our practice to this and really wanted this since last year we really didn't get where we wanted to be," said Kamanaookalani Goldstein on securing the berth.

The top-ranked Warriors took down the second-ranked Buffanblu for the second time in less than a week, as a pumped-up home crowd at Kekuhaupio Gym was treated to a 25-21, 25-23, 25-21 victory, the first sweep for Kapalama over rival Punahou since the 2021 Division I title match.

"We really wanted to sweep them," laughed Goldstein. "Every team wants to, but in our pregame we really turned it up."

"It was really sweet," Lilo added. "The crowd really helped us and the energy on our bench, it really pushed us."

Setter Emma Lilo ran the Warriors' offense to the tune of 41 assists, and Adrianna Arquette and Kama Goldstein had 18 and 11 kills respectively in the win.

The theme of the match was late-set momentum, as Kamehameha parlayed a 6-0 run late in the first set to take a 22-17 lead, a 4-1 spurt to take the set in the second, and a 7-2 scoring advantage in the back half of the third to seize control and earn the sweep.

Still, Punahou was right there nearly every step of the way in each set, and a point or two swinging the other way could have absolutely shifted the outcome:

A three point mini-run in the first set pulled the visiting team to within two points at 22-20, that forced a timeout.

The Buffanblu led 22-21 in the second, but gave up a trio of points in a row following that advantage.

Held a lead as large as 17-14 in the final set before losing the advantage for good at 19-18 on an Arquette kill.

Goldstein was key in the opening set, putting down nine of her 11 kills in the game in the first alone. From there, Kamehameha leaned on Arquette, particularly in the second frame, where she tallied nine kills.

"Kamanao did really well in the first set and then Adri came back swinging as well," said Lilo. "Our middles got up in transition really well too."

Lilo was quick to credit the success of the offense to serve-recieve.

"The passes were really well so I could really spread out the offense," she remarked. "I couldn't have done it without the passes from our defense."

The ILH Division I double-elimination tournament begins Sat, Oct 14, and continues through at least Oct 26, with the winner of the tourney receiving the second berth into states.