ILH Boys Volleyball
No. 2 Kamehameha takes down No. 1 Punahou


Michael Lasquero | ScoringLive
April 10, 2019, 10:22pm

  

Wed, Apr 10, 2019 @ Punahou [ 7:00 pm ]

Kamehameha

3

Punahou

1

FINAL  1   2   3   4   5      
KSK (11-4) 25 14 27 25 - 3
PUN (16-4) 21 25 25 14 - 1
Kill: J. Deuchar (PUN) 13 kills
Blk: J. Kimura (PUN) 6 blk
Ast: M. Saffery (KSK) 33 ast


MAKIKI — Did someone yell timber?

No. 2 Kamehameha handed top-ranked Punahou its first loss against an Hawaii opponent since 2016 with a four-set win Wednesday night in an ILH Division I match at Hemmeter Fieldhouse. Set scores were 25-21, 14-25, 27-25 and 25-14.

The Buffanblu (9-1), winners of the past seven D1 state titles, had won 47 straight matches in league and state tourney play before falling to the Warriors (9-1).

Kamehameha senior captain Matthew Saffery, who was a freshman on the Kamehameha team that last beat the Buffanblu, was ecstatic to see his team's hard work bear fruit.

"This feels really good to show that we put in all this work and that we came so far from the beginning of the season and that it's finally paying off," said Saffery, who had 33 assists and 12 digs in the win.

The victory leaves Kamehameha and Punahou in a tie for first-place after the ILH's first round, which forces a playoff on Saturday to determine the league's first-round champion and the state berth that comes with winning that honor. The match will be held at the Warriors' Kekuhaupio Gymnasium, with first serve slated for 11:00 a.m.

Kamehameha coach Randy Nako said the win over the Buffanblu was a "good win," but noted that the journey isn't over yet.

"It's always good to beat Punahou, but still it's a long road, and the guys know that and we reminded them of that," said Nako. "It's just one match really in the scheme of things."

One of five matches in as many days in fact.

The Warriors were coming off a straight set sweep of Hawaii Baptist on Tuesday before beating Punahou on Wednesday. But instead of two days of rest and preparation before Saturday's playoff, both teams will play two exhibition matches in the next two days as both teams are participating in Punahou's annual Clash of the Titans Invitational with California teams Corona Del Mar and Huntington Beach in town.

Nako is still unsure how to approach the next two days before facing the Buffanblu this weekend.

"I'm not sure yet. I got to sit down and think about it whether we're going to save some arms. We don't know, but we want to put on a good show playing against the mainland teams because they came a long way, and it just shows respect to them and respect to Punahou because they invited us so we don't want to just throw anybody out there."

Regardless, it was the Warriors who earned respect on Wednesday.

"Kamehameha played great ball, they earned everything that they got," said Punahou coach Rick Tune. "They're a good team and they deserved this win tonight, we did not. Even if we had won this match, I would not have felt great about it. I don't think the guys would either. It might be a good thing, we'll see how the guys respond."

Christmas Togiai was the leading hitter for Kamehameha with 12. Freshman Laiakea Hirahira followed with nine, middle Ezra Evaimalo had seven and Titus Maunakea and Gannon Chinen each added three to round out the Warriors' attackers with multiple kills.

Jack Duechar had 13 kills to lead the Buffanblu. Christian "Kawai" Hong and Jakob Kimura followed with 10 kills apiece. Kimura, who came off the bench, also had a hand in six of Punahou's 12 total blocks.

The Buffanblu generated more points than Kamehameha in the opening stanza, but six service errors and five hitting errors gave the Warriors the 25-21 win in set one.

"We had 11 errors hitting and serving in the first set, that's a 22-point swing," said Tune. "You make over 10, 11, 12 errors in a set, that's really difficult for any team to overcome."

Punahou committed seven service errors in the second set, but found its groove offensively and sided out at a high rate to win convincingly, 25-14.

The Buffanblu took the early advantage in the third set with a string of three-point leads until Kamehameha tied the match after a Punahou attack hit one of the antennas. The two teams traded points until a block by Robbie Allen and Claudio Clini gave Punahou the lead, 11-10.

Punahou held the lead for most of the middle stages of the third set and took a 23-20 lead after Duechar put down a kill with libero Shea Suzumoto shooting it out to the outside.


Reach Michael Lasquero at [email protected].




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