Kahale Clini pounded 21 kills as Punahou rallied for a 21-25, 25-21, 25-21, 28-26 win over ‘Iolani on Tuesday in an ILH second-place tiebreaker match at Father Bray Athletic Center.
Middle Adam Haidar stepped up with 11 kills and two blocks, while Afatia Thompson had eight kills and Evan Porter chipped in five.
The Buffanblu continued to serve with greater efficiency, committing just 11 service errors against the Raiders. Just six days prior, Punahou had 31 service errors in a loss to Kamehameha to end the regular season.
Punahou played without opposite Ian Kinney and three other players who were sidelined by illness for the crucial battle.
“Tired. Still tired. The weekend was tough,” Punahou coach Rick Tune said.
Punahou was three days removed from a remarkable run at its Clash of the Titans tournament, beating two nationally ranked teams en route to the title.
“This group is so resilient. I have nothing but positives to say about them. There’s some lessons that we’ve got to learn, like being up by a large margin and learning how to close. All in all, they keep fighting. They have to learn how to be in that moment and keep playing their brand of ball,” Tune said.
Clini played through an aching shoulder and finished with 53 kill attempts.
“I haven’t been feeling good after 10 sets against Mira Costa and Moanalua. I’m a little banged up, but Ian was out today, so I had to take a bigger role. This game was super important for us, and now we can play at home.”
Punahou will host ‘Iolani in the semifinals of the ILH tournament on Monday.
Waipehe Winchester tallied 12 kills, three blocks and two aces for ‘Iolani. Casey Lyons added 10 kills, Colby Fournier had eight kills, Shaun Nakao chipped in six kills, and Tyler Van Cantfort had 36 assists, two kills, two blocks and one ace.
The two teams came into the tiebreaker with 5-3 records in league play.
“I’m not sure there’s much to like about today. That was probably one of the more disappointing … we were not very disciplined. We didn’t have a very good attitude most of the time. We let a lot of things bother us, and that’s far from how we play our best,” ‘Iolani coach Jordan Inafuku said. “We have to be the most precise of the contenders and we’re not going to do it when we’re letting the other team distract us. Those are things that are in our control and we normally are very good at.”
Kamehameha (7-1) had already placed first in the ILH regular season to secure an automatic state-tournament berth. By winning on Tuesday night, Punahou is in much better position to capture the league’s second and only remaining state berth.
“We’re all in the same boat. We need to win the tournament. This was kind of a bonus match and we didn’t take advantage of the opportunities here to learn,” Inafuku said.
The possibilities begin on Monday. If ‘Iolani beats Punahou, then loses in the tournament title game to finish second, there will be another tiebreaker match for the available state berth.
However, ‘Iolani could avoid that by beating Punahou and winning the tourney title.
The Raiders appeared to be the fresher team in the opening set. Clini had eight kills in the first game, but Punahou saw a 12-9 lead evaporate. Van Cantfort had two kills, an ace and a block as ‘Iolani took command.
The Raiders led the second set 9-5 before Punahou rallied. Brody Badham had back-to-back blocks during a 7-0 run by the visitors. A kill by Fournier on an overpass gave ‘Iolani a 13-12 edge, but Punahou went on a 13-8 run. Junior Elijah Smith and freshman Kanalu Akana distributed to Porter, Haidar and Thompson as the Buffanblu evened the match.
In Sets 3 and 4, Punahou jumped out to big early leads. The Buffanblu led the third set 9-2 and never relinquished the lead. Clini was limited to three kills, but Akana delivered two aces, and Matthew Chun and Colby Kitagawa had one each.
Punahou got aces from Clini to open a 10-3 lead in the fourth game. Trailing 15-8, ‘Iolani rallied all the way back and took a 25-24 lead on a right-side hitting error by Thompson. Haidar came through with two kills, and Badham clutched up with a kill on a feed from Chun, the libero, for a 27-26 lead.
Clini ended it with an uncontested kill at the middle to end the match.
When the teams met during the regular season, the home teams prevailed. Punahou beat ‘Iolani 27-29, 25-19, 25-27, 25-17, 15-12 on March 7.
On March 31, ‘Iolani swept Punahou 25-15, 25-23, 25-21
