Punahou needs four sets to dispatch Hawaii Baptist

Greg Yamamoto | SL

The Buffanblu notched a 16th straight league win, but it definitely wasn't to script.

Led by a 20 kill, five block performance by Cameron Porter, Punahou jumped out early then faltered in the third before righting the ship late in the fourth to eke out a 25-17, 25-19, 23-25, 25-23 win over Hawaii Baptist.

"We have a lot of weapons, so that makes it easier for me," said Porter. "Nehua and Seizo were holding the middle so I was one-on-one a lot, so that all helps and sets were good tonight too."

After posting relatively easy wins in the first two sets, the Buffablu suddenly found themselves in an uphill battle in the third, as the Eagles took the lead at 3-2 on a Kameden Kaneshiro Takeuchi kill and never looked back, as Jason Rivers put down a the deciding kill in a somewhat surprising 25-18 win in the set three.

That momentun carried over into the fourth set, as Hawaii Baptist led in the early going by as many as four points and held an advantage as late as 19-18.

From there the turning point in the match came during a stretch of points courtesy of Punahou setter Ty Kikuchi, who won a joust at the net to the tie things up at 19-all, put his team back into the lead with a beautiful attack-turned-set that ended up with a kill by Nahua Lloyd to make it 20-19.

"I knew if I could show that I was a threat in the front row, they would have to respect it a little bit, so I swung one, I dumped one and then I knew that if it looked like I was taking an approach they'd have to respect it, and I was able to get it to Nahua one-on-one," said Kikuchi. "He was up and ready so as much credit goes to him as it does for me."

For good measure, he finished off the sequence of points with a perfect no-look dump over a blocker to put Punahou up for good at 21-20.

Porter's 20th kill of the night got Punahou to match point at 24-21, before Hawaii Baptist clawed back to within a single point on a Kaneshiro Takeuchi kill before Afatia Thompson put the exclamation on the win with a kill from the left side to end it.

Kikuchi split setting duties for much of the contest with freshman Tate Anderson, and the pair finished with 30 assists and 13 respectively.

"He's young but he's really talented," said Porter of Anderson. "Getting him experience earlier is gonna be really helpful for him later on."

Thompson, the lone returning starter from a season ago, had 14 kills, two blocks and ace, while Porter added two aces and two assists to go along with his game-high 20 kills and five blocks. Lloyd contributed seven kills and six total blocks.

Hawaii Baptist's duo of Samuel Mokan and Rivers combined for 22 kills, and Kai Toyofuku dished out 30 assists to equal that of Kikuchi.

Punahou outblocked Hawaii Baptist 19 to 6.