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Punahou overcame an 11-9 deficit in the fifth set last night to rally past Kamehameha, 25-22, 18-25, 25-23, 16-25, 15-13, and capture its second straight Interscholastic League of Honolulu girls volleyball championship.

The visiting Buffanblu finished ILH play with a 18-2 record and will receive the league's top seed and first-round bye in next week's state tournament on Maui. The five-time defending state champ Warriors, also 18-2, will begin state tournament play in the first round Oct. 27.

Kamehameha had been motoring through the ILH unbeaten with 17 straight victories until Saturday, when Punahou won the regular season finale in four games to force last night's winner-take-all playoff before about 1,200 at Kekuhaupi'o Gym. The Warriors went on a 6-1 run to go up, 11-9, in Game 5, but the Buffanblu answered with four straight points capped by consecutive blocks by Tai Manu-Olevao and Brigitte Russo.

Kamehameha closed it to 13-12 on Misty Ma'a's kill, but Punahou reached match point when Manu-Olevao landed a right-side angle shot to the back row. A Buffanblu hitting error gave the Warriors hope at 14-13, but freshman Faith Ma'afala's jump serve went into the net to end it.

"She did what she was supposed to do, and I would have her do it again," Kamehameha coach Chris Blake said, when asked if Ma'afala had the green light to jump serve on match point. "It was her serving that helped us win the fourth set."

The final point was an abrupt end to a marathon match that featured several drastic swings. The biggest came in the third set, when Punahou turned a 19-12 deficit into a 22-20 lead before eventually winning to go up, two games to one. Manu-Olevao had four kills and a block during the pivotal 10-1 run, after being denied earlier by the Warriors' formidable front wall of blockers Talia Jardin-Fermentez and Nicole Sniffen.

"They were blocking really good, we couldn't find any way around it," Manu-Olevao said. "But we were still motivated, and that's what brought us back."

After the Buffanblu jumped out to a 5-1 lead in Game 4, Kamehameha staged its own rally and tied it at 8-8 on a kill by Sniffen and eventually forced the fifth set by finishing with an impressive 8-0 run highlighted by Brittany-Ann Kalepa's two blocks and a kill.

Tayler Higgins' kill from the right side ended a long rally and broke a 5-5 tie in the fifth, followed by two Warriors errors to make it 8-5. Ma'a then had three kills in the 6-1 run to put Kamehameha up, 11-9, before Punahou took the lead for good at 12-11 on a solo block by Manu-Olevao.

Buffanblu coach Peter Balding said his team's comeback trail actually began on Sept. 14 in a match against 'Iolani. Punahou had been upset by Mid-Pacific the week before and was down, one game to none and trailing 12-7 against the Raiders. The Buffanblu went on to win, 18-25, 25-21, 25-15, and have lost only once in 11 matches since.

"It looked like we had hit rock bottom, but that's when our season turned around," Balding said. "They've just been grinding and gritting it out, and getting a little bit better in each match."

Sophomore Carly Kan led Punahou with 12 kills and added two blocks, Manu-Olevao finished with eight kills and five blocks, and Russo contributed seven kills and four blocks. Ma'a led the Warriors with a match-high 20 kills, Amanda Wasko added 10 kills and three blocks, Sniffen also had 10 kills and Jardin-Fermentez contributed with a match-high eight blocks.