Punahou's Tayler Higgins set up Brittney Markwith for a spike attempt against Kamehameha. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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By Wes Nakama
HHSAA

Carly Kan spiked eight kills, Remo Gaogao added seven kills and Brittney Markwith contributed five blocks Tuesday night to help visiting Punahou sweep Kamehameha, 25-20, 25-22 in the Interscholastic League girls volleyball season opener for both teams.

The showdown was a rematch of last year's New City Nissan/Hawai'i High School Athletic Association Division I state championship.
 
Punahou, despite losing four-year starting outside hitter Tai Manu-Olevao to the University of Hawai'i, is ranked No. 5 in the nation by PrepVolleyball.com and No. 7 by MaxPreps.

"One thing I've noticed in the three years since I've been back coaching the girls -- every year the team fights, they fight, they claw," Buffanblu coach Peter Balding said. "We're kind of in a bubble period at Punahou where we have a lot of talent, but we're also going to work to get better every day."

Punahou, which went 8-0 in the prestigious Ann Kang Invitational two weeks ago to become the first Hawai'i team to win that tournament in six years, jumped out to a 6-1 start in the first set Tuesday before the Warriors answered with a 6-0 run to lead, 7-6.

Kamehameha later led 12-11, but setter Tayler Higgins landed a dump shot and Claire Feeley followed with a kill to give the Buffanblu the lead for good. A double-hit, hitting error and illegal back row attack by the Warriors then extended the lead to 16-12 Punahou eventually stretched it to 24-17 before ending it on a block by Markwith.

Kamehameha led 4-1 to start the second set, but Gaogao landed two kills to highlight a 6-3 run that tied it at 7-7, and back-to-back kills by Kan broke a 9-9 tie and gave the Buffanblu the lead for good.

A kill by Higgins later pushed the lead to 19-14, and after a net violation and hitting error closed it to 24-22, Markwith ended the match with a solo block.

Afterward, both coaches described the match as "a good measuring stick."

"We're young, and we lost a lot of key contributors (to graduation)," Warriors coach Chris Blake said. "We have 10 new players, a bunch of sophomores, but I thought our defense did well. We emphasize defense and we dig a lot of balls, but Punahou runs a quick offense and Higgins really makes a difference. She makes that offense go."

Feeley added six kills and one block for the Buffanblu.

Faith Ma'afala had five kills and Alohi Robins-Hardy added three kills and an ace for Kamehameha.