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Mid-Pacific Institute senior hitter Kaili Ayers had never beaten Punahou in her girls volleyball career. All that's changed now.

Ayers had 12 kills and the Owls upset state runner-up and previously unbeaten Punahou 15-25, 25-21, 25-21 at Mid-Pacific Institute on Thursday.

"I'm just so excited," Ayers said. "We haven't beaten them in four years. It's surreal. I'm living it. I'm just so hyped up."

The victory delighted Mid-Pacific head coach Vernon Podlewski, too. The first-year coach and former University of Hawaii men's volleyball All-American libero was surrounded by dozens of well-wishers after the trademark victory.

Punahou, a perennial state championship contender, is coming off a season where it went 21-1, losing to Kamehameha in the state final. The Buffanblu returned three starters from that team, Brigitte-Gregoria Russo, Alexandra Santi and Shar Manu-Olevao.

"It could have gone either way," Podlewski said of the match. "I think home-court advantage helped us. We have a new floor, new coach. A lot of new things for us this year. A new spark. That might have a lot to do with it."

Ayers and Mid-Pacific (3-2) came through with that "spark." The Owls made big plays in final two sets, while Punahou (5-1) committed several key unforced errors, including two misalignment violations that gave MPI leads of 12-10 and 16-14 in the final set.

"Mid-Pac played great," Punahou coach Peter Balding said. "Vernon does a great job. They earned everything they got.

"We're just as hungry as last year's team," Balding added. "Last year's team was senior-laden. We made some mistakes tonight, but that's no discredit to Mid-Pac."

The Buffanblu trailed 14-11 in the final set, but rallied with an 8-4 run to take a 19-18 lead. Manu-Olevao had two block assists and a kill during the surge.

Mid-Pacific responded with five consecutive points for a 23-19 lead. Ayers chipped in two kills and Camille Ganahl added a kill and a block assist in the run.

After Punahou's Remo-Louise Gaogao scored on a well-placed tip, Ayers responded with a blast that bounced off the defender and hit the rafters to bring the Owls within one point of the upset.

"I was feeling it," Ayers said of her closing surge. "I think the whole team was feeling it from the fans. We just went with that flow."

Punahou scored on a double block to cut the deficit to 24-21, but the Buffanblu hit wide on the next play to end the match.

"We just played," Podlewski said. "Our players didn't worry about what was going on. They made big swings to end the game. They went for it. ... Jump serving, float serving ... We didn't let up. They practiced hard."

The Owls relinquished two leads in Set 2 before storming back. Mid-Pacific led 18-15 after three consecutive kills by Ganahl, but the Buffanblu rallied with a 5-0 burst behind Shannan McCready who served four of those points.

The momentum changed when Podlewski challenged his team during a timeout after a bad pass by the Owls gave Punahou a 19-18 lead.

"I told them we lost the momentum, we needed it back," Podlewski said during the break. "You can't let them come into your house and beat you after we had the lead. I said the setters could give a better set, the hitters could make a better hit. It was simple. Turn it up a notch. We didn't want to hold back at that point."

His words helped as MPI regained the lead. Ayers responded with three kills during a 6-0 run that put MPI ahead 24-20. After a kill by Manu-Olevao, Punahou hit long to end the set.

Punahou cruised in Set 1 after MPI closed to 16-12 on a service error. Punahou's Taylor Dayton had three consecutive kills and added a block assist during a 5-0 run that pushed the lead to 21-12.

Manu-Olevao had 10 kills for the match and Gaogao added nine for Punahou.