Defending champ Punahou rolls Mililani in D1 semis

Punahou's Mariah Rigg gets a kill attempt through the Mililani block. Peter Caldwell | SL

KE’EAU — Punahou had their way with Mililani.

The unseeded — and last year's Division I champion — Buffanblu climbed from the bottom of the tournament bracket and defeated second-seeded Trojans in a semifinal match to advance to the title game of the New City Nissan/HHSAA Girls Volleyball Championships in three sets, 25-10, 25-12, and 25-8.

Punahou’s relentless offense was spearheaded by McKenna Granato who knocked in a game-high total of 17 kills and 3 service aces. Also contributing to the Buffanblu’s offense was Remo Gaogao and Mariah Rigg, who both knocked down 10 kills each.

Behind Punahou’s offensive trio was Kiani Tuileta pulling the strings, recording 45 assists for her team.

“We usually don’t connect that well (on the court), but we did really well today,” said Tuileta of Granato. “She was getting up and every time I put the ball up… she’s most likely going to put away.”

It wasn’t just offense that Punahou was performing well in but defense, Sydney Fanoga put up two solo blocks, and block assists from Gaogao, Rigg, Kiani Tuileta, and Marissa Behrens each also contributed to Punahou’s net defense.

“I was very proud of our defense, especially our outside hitters,” said Punahou head coach Tanya Fuamatu-Anderson. Everybody handled the ball and kept the ball in play… made smart calls… made smart choices…”

Punahou forced a Mililani timeout in the first set after launching ahead 9-3 in the beginning and jogged on a 13-5 run to 22-8 afterwards, which forced a second Mililani timeout. The Trojans only managed to collect two points before Punahou’s Mariah Rigg slammed the final point for the set.

The second and third set conveyed a similar situation much like the first except that Punahou increased it’s unanswered streak of runs from 8-0 unanswered points in the second to 13-0 unanswered in the third.

Punahou’s stellar defense prevented Mililani from cashing on kill attempts thanks to great dig performances from Shannel Chong and Remo Gaogao with 12 and 7 digs respectively, helped kept the ball in play for the Buffanblu. Claire Anderson and Kelly Matthews also contributed to the defense with 7 and 6 digs respectively.

Miliani’s offense was held down to a staggering total of 19 kills. Sarah Liva led her team with 9 kills, followed by Jayierra Kapowai with 5 kills.

Punahou will face Kamehameha tomorrow at 7 p.m. in championship final — the two teams have met before in the finals with Punahou winning last year.