Kamehameha's Makana Harrison puts a kill attempt past the Punahou block. Peter Caldwell | SL

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Punahou's Micah Ma'a puts up a set against Kamehameha. Peter Caldwell | SL

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Kamehameha players celebrate after a straight set win over Punahou to secure a Division I state tournament berth. Brandon Ching | SL

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He might not get a whole of playing time, even during practice, but the Warriors' David Akana certainly knows how to make the most of his opportunities.

Akana, a 6-foot-1 senior, got the starting nod tonight in place of regular starter Azariah Distajo and came up big, notching four kills, a key block and even a set-winning ace to help propel Kamehameha to a straight set victory over Punahou, 25-20, 27-25, securing the first of two Interscholatic League of Honolulu berths to the Division I state tournament in the process.

"He barely plays in practice," said Kamehameha head coach Kainoa Downing of Akana. "And this is now twice, he's come in, taken the starting middle blocking position and was positive on statistics. To come into a pressure situation like that, and he just plays. That's just incredible what he does."

For much of the first set, the game had the look and feel of a contest destined to go all three sets, as both teams stayed within a point of each other all the way to 13-all, when a Nick Ng kill was followed up by a solo block by Makana Harrison to push the margin to 15-13. A Punahou miscue on the next serve extended the margin to three, prompting a timeout by the home team.

The break in action did little to slow the momentum for the Warriors coming out of the timeout, as the visiting team added three more unanswered points before a Micah Ma'a kill ended the 6-0 scoring run.

Going down the stretch in the first, Punahou was unable to get any closer than 23-20, and on set point, Akana's line drive serve hit the tape and tumbled over onto the Buffanblu's side of the net to give the Warriors a 1-0 lead.

Set number two was a near carbon-copy of the opening set, as the lead see-sawed through 9-all, until a pair of Tuileta kills and a Kamehameha error gave Punahou a 12-9 cushion. That was quickly erased by a 4-1 scoring spurt by the Warriors, capped off by a block solo and a kill by Akana that forced the home team to burn its first timeout of the set with the game tied at 13.

"On the block, I think it was Kupono Fey, he's a really good hitter, and I just saw his approach looked at his shoulder took off a certain angle and just so happened that he hit it right into the block." said Akana of his block.

Punahou managed to spot themselves a bit of breathing room in the latter stages of game two, as a Ma'a-to-Tuileta connection pushed the lead to 19-16.

But Kamehameha rallied back to tie the score at 21-all on a thunderous solo block by setter Puna Kaniho, and then took the lead on the next serve on an unforced error by the Buffanblu, forcing the home team to use its final timeout.

Coming out of the timeout, a Tuileta kill evened the score at 23-all, but Kamehameha answered right back with Kaniho finding Ng for the kill and the lead at 24-23.

Tuileta recorded his match-high twelvth kill to even the score once again at 24, but a long rally on the next point ended with a Buffanblu net violation to totter the Warriors back into the lead at 25-24.

Micah Ma'a sent back a Kamehameha kill attempt with a huge block to knot the score again at 25-all.

A service error gave the Warriors their third match point, and on the ensuing serve by Kamehameha the hit off of a set in the middle by Punahou sailed long to end it.

Kamehameha had 23 kills to Punahou's 21, and added great balance offensively, with 5 players registering three or more kills, led by Makoa Camanse-Stevens and Makana Harrison with five each.

"Our gameplan today was to be focused, to spread the ball around, make sure everyone gets hits not just loading up on Cullen (Mosher), who was our strongest hitter last game." remarked Kaniho, who finished the evening with 18 assists to go along with a kill, a block, an ace and 4 digs.

"Its a great feeling, I honestly didn't know if we could pull it out cause losing our starter just yesterday, our middle Azariah. We'd have to work harder, and that's exactly what we did today." said Kaniho.