All Punahou girls volleyball coach Peter Balding wants his team to do is get better every day.
On Tuesday night, the Buffanblu learned that they have improved by six points since the beginning of the season.
The top-ranked Buffanblu ruled the net and had their way with No. 7 Mid-Pacific on Tuesday, beating the Owls 25-12, 25-16 at Mid-Pacific. Punahou had 29 kills to Mid-Pacific’s seven.
The Buffanblu used the game as a measuring stick because they beat the Owls 25-20, 25-14 in their second match of the season at ‘Iolani’s Ann Kang tournament. Mid-Pacific challenged them in the first set of that tournament but hasn’t bothered them since.
"I’m happy with where we are at," Balding said. "We get a little better each time out, but there are still some things we can improve upon."
Perhaps getting off to a good start is one of them. Mid-Pacific led both sets 2-0 before Punahou took over.
Other than those four points, Punahou’s points came off kills, while the majority of Mid-Pacific’s points came off Punahou errors. Claire Feeley led the way with six kills for Punahou, followed by Remo Gaogao and Carly Kan with five each. Ten different players put the ball to the floor for the Buffanblu, to only three for Mid-Pacific.
The teams get another chance to see where they are on Saturday, when Mid-Pacific travels to Punahou for a rematch at 1 p.m. Owls coach Luis Ramirez expects a better team to show up.
"We didn’t give them too much of a challenge," Ramirez said. "And that doesn’t sit well with me. They are a very good team, but we can play a lot better than we played today. We have three days to get better, so that’s what we have to do."
Ramirez switched liberos between games, replacing senior Alexe Navarro in favor of sophomore Ariel Miyasaki and getting a spark. Saturday’s starter is undetermined — at any spot — until he sees how his girls compete in practice. Mid-Pacific is in the middle of a four-game stretch against the two top-ranked teams in the state, playing No. 2 Kamehameha next Tuesday after being swept by the Warriors last Saturday.
"That team is very dangerous," Balding said. "They are a play or two away from beating the Kamehamehas, Punahous and ‘Iolanis. They are very dangerous."
