HHSAA Boys Volleyball
Buffanblu cap undefeated season with record 40th state championship


Kalani Takase | ScoringLive
May 11, 2025, 6:17am

  

Sat, May 10, 2025 @ Moanalua [ 7:00 pm ]

Kamehameha

1

Punahou

3

FINAL  1   2   3   4   5      
KSK (15-7) 23 25 20 7 - 1
PUN (18-0) 25 20 25 25 - 3
Kill: T. Scanlan (PUN) 21 kills
Blk: S. Sexton (PUN) 6 blk
Ast: N. Koahou (KSK) 35 ast


SALT LAKE — Order has been restored within the realm of boys' prep volleyball in the 808 state. 

Tanoa Scanlan put down 21 kills and Cameron Porter had 17 to power top-ranked Punahou past No. 4 Kamehameha in four sets in the title game of the New City Nissan/HHSAA Division I State Championships Saturday night. 

A crowd of about 900 fans at Moanalua High School saw the Buffanblu put the finishing touches on an unblemished 18-0 record with their 25-23, 20-25, 25-20 and 25-7 win over the defending state champion Warriors, who completed the year with a 15-7 win-loss ledger. 

It was the third straight season that culminated with the Interscholastic League of Honolulu rivals squaring off in the state final. Two years ago Punahou took home its 10th consecutive crown, but it was finally toppled by Kamehameha in the 2024 championship match. 

It took nearly a full year to do so — 364 days to be exact — but the Buffanblu got their revenge. 

"I'm just so grateful that we got to this point. Last year obviously we came up short to the same team, but we were playing today for the seniors that didn't get it last year. All those guys, they were great players and had great team camaraderie, but we came up short, so today it's a great feeling and hopefully we can get two more in the future," said Scanlan, a sophomore outside hitter. 

Punahou has won 13 of its record-40 state championships under longtime coach Rick Tune. 

"I'm gonna be honest with you, this one was a lot of work that these boys put in, their families put in, our school put in, our coaching staff put in with these guys," Tune said. 

HHSAA Boys Volleyball Division I All-Tournament Team
(as selected by the media and HHSAA)

Most Outstanding Player: Tanoa Scanlan, Punahou

Kala Clark, Punahou
Cain Kahahawai, Kamehameha
Kawai Koahou, Kamehameha
Braden Maneja, Kamehameha
Cameron Porter, Punahou
Malu Wilcox, Moanalua

Whereas the Buffanblu had nine seniors on its state runner-up squad from a year ago, they carried only three 12th graders this spring. 

"We're a really young team. I mean there's a rotation there where we go freshman-sophomore-sophomore and we only had one returning starter from last year's team and so, so much of it is just teaching them how to be under the bright lights and execute a game plan under the bright lights. I cannot tell you how much these guys just kept pushing to be able to do that," Tune said. 

Scanlan took a team-high 47 swings and committed just four errors for a .362 hitting percentage. He missed roughly half of the ILH volleyball season while on the mend from a hand injury he sustained during the basketball season that required surgery and forced Scanlan to miss out on Punahou's run to a state hoops crown in the winter. 

"It's an amazing feeling. Basketball, obviously that was an amazing feeling, but I wasn't fully able to experience it as I wasn't on the court from surgery, but now that I'm happy that God blessed me to be able to get back on the court and I wouldn't have rather done it with any other group of guys — I'm just grateful that we won," said Scanlan, who was selected as the tournament's most outstanding player. 

Porter, a junior outside hitter, had seven attack errors on 40 total swings and hit .250. He also came up with nine digs, was in on two blocks and served up an ace.

Like Scanlan, Porter said that the motivation to win for the Buffanblu was the class of 2024, which included Porter's older brother Evan, who recently completed his freshman year of collegiate ball at Stanford. 

"I think in the offseason and during the start of the season we all knew we needed to bring it back to Punahou. Seeing my brother and some of the upperclassmen have to leave without a win last year, it motivated all of us to work hard in practice and make sure we execute in games and it led to a really together group that worked really hard and executed tonight," Porter said. 

Punahou scored three of the final points of the opening set, capped by a Keola Todd-Perry kill from the right side, to go up in the match. However, Kamehameha returned the favor in set 2, when it evened the match following a 4-1 set-closing run that ended with a kill by Edward Tanaka. 

The Warriors held a 14-11 advantage in set 3 after Jaeden Miyahana put one down that was set-up by a Buffanblu overpass. However, Scanlan converted a one-hand set from Kahikina Marumoto to ignite a 9-2 run that culminated with a block by Nahua Lloyd and Afatia Thompson and propelled their team ahead, 20-16. 

Kamehameha reeled off four straight points to even the score at 20 on a service ace by Nathaniel Koahou, but Porter gave his team the lead for good with a right-side attack. A few points later, Porter served up an ace to give his team set point. A Warrior attack into the net capped a 5-0 run by the Buffanblu to close out set 3. 

"I think it definitely got us on a roll. I feel like I got a few plays in a row where I went back, just grooved a few serves and the boys were getting pumped up and I was feeding off of that," Porter said. 

Tune credited Porter for his ability to dial in at the service line. 

"To win championships you gotta be steady, especially with the moments where the pressure comes on. You gotta know what the rhythm is you gotta play with and you can't be too passive and you can't be too aggressive. You gotta find that sweet spot in the middle and I thought Cam did a great job," Tune said. 

Punahou carried over the momentum it generated late in set 3 into set 4. It scored seven straight points before Kamehameha got on the scoreboard and further separated from there with a 10-1 run capped by Scanlan's third kill of the set to take a commanding 17-2 lead. 

Kamehameha could only get within 20-7 before the Buffanblu closed out the match with a 5-0 run. 

"We found a nice rhythm and a good drive through that last part of the third set and all the way through the fourth set; We only missed one serve in the fourth set," Tune pointed out. 

The Warriors hit minus-.258 in the fourth set, when they committed 11 attack errors, including the final two points of the match. 

"From that point it just looked like Punahou's game plan was working. They looked like they were trying to channel our hitters a lot. Their blockers were doing a phenomenal job just funneling our hitters at their libero," Kamehameha coach Sava Agpoon said. 

Tune said the fourth set was the culmination of a year's worth of hard work paying off. 

"We've been talking about being good on both sides of the ball and how dominant we can be on both sides of the ball when we're executing and doing the right things and that last set, that was an announcement that this team has arrived. That team played on both sides of the ball and that's what they can do," Tune stated. 

Porter said the Buffanblu were keen not to let their foot off of the proverbial gas pedal. 

"I think partly because we came up short last year, we knew that even though we were up 2-1, we have to finish and that's why you saw maybe all of us going even harder than the first three sets because we really wanted to finish and make sure the game was over before we started celebrating," Porter described. 

Punahou tallied 12 team blocks to Kamehameha's eight. Lloyd had six kills and five block assists, Seizo Sexton notched six block assists, Todd-Perry five and Thompson four. 

Ty Kikuchi dished out 25 assists and seven digs and Marumoto had 16 and two. Libero Kala Clark posted a match-high 22 digs in the win. 

Conor Williams recorded 14 kills, but also committed 16 errors on 48 total swings to finish with a minus-.042 hitting percentage. Cain Kahahawai added 10 kills and nine digs. Koahou distributed 35 set assists and libero Braden Maneja came up with 19 digs in the loss. 

It was the fourth meeting between the teams this season. Punahou won all four times and swept two of them. 

The Buffanblu dropped only eight sets all season. 

The Warriors, who were playing their fourth match in six days — including a pair of five-set wins — were seeking their seventh state crown in program history. 

Near the end of his postgame comments, Tune got a bit emotional when speaking about his uncles Chip and and Sonny Ching — two longtime supporters of the Buffanblu program. 

"Both of those guys are massive supporters, have been over the years, would come to every game. My uncle Sonny was blind and he'd phone me after every game to get a whole scouting report and a whole detailed description of what happened. Both those guys passed away earlier this year, so for me personally, this is for them," Tune expressed. 


Reach Kalani Takase at [email protected].




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