Tuesday, October 30, 2001
Kamehameha clinched the Interscholastic League of Honolulu boys volleyball championship last night with a 15-10, 15-9, 11-15, 15-8 win over Punahou at Kekuhaupio Gym. Kamehameha
clinches ILHBy Jason Kaneshiro
jkaneshiro@starbulletin.comThe Warriors finished the ILH second round at 4-0, completing a perfect 15-0 regular season. Kamehameha had already clinched a state tournament berth by winning the first round title.
"I was real proud of them today, because we got challenged," Kamehameha coach Pono Maa said. "So I was real proud of the way we hung in together. ... This is a tough league and is something to be real proud of."
Punahou finished 2-2 in the second round and 12-3 overall. The Buffanblu, who have won 19 of the last 21 state championships, must now beat Iolani in a playoff match at McCabe Gym on Thursday just to qualify for the state tournament. Iolani finished the second round with a 3-1 record and defeated Punahou last week.
Kamehameha's Rickey Estrada and Willy Melemai paced a balanced Warrior attack with 15 kills each. Isaac Kneubuhl had 13 and Adam Tuifagu had 10. David Hoke registered eight kills and five blocks.
"It just showed all our hard work paid off and if we keep playing like this, we should be fine in states," Estrada said. "We knew they had a lot of tradition, they are always a powerhouse team, we just wanted to go in and play our game and we knew we'd be fine."
Maa also credited the defense of Eric Kalima for spurring the Warriors down the stretch. The senior popped up numerous Punahou kill attempts late in the fourth game as the Warriors scored the last seven points of the match.
"Our big thing is we made a lot of defensive plays," Maa said. "Eric Kalima, he was everywhere. He made a lot of saves, he converted on things. He was a true leader out there."
Punahou was led by Ryan Zabriskie's 13 kills and Gary Johnson's 12.
Kamehameha erased a 6-1 deficit en route to winning Game 1 and cruised to a win the second game.
The Buffanblu jumped out to a 10-5 lead in Game 3 and were able to hold off the Warriors the rest of the way to extend the match.
Kamehameha took a 5-1 lead in the fourth game only to see the Buffanblu battle back to tie the game. With the game even at 8-8, Ainoa Miyashiro served six consecutive points to give the Warriors control.
Hoke nailed three kills and Estrada added a kill and a solo block during that stretch. After the teams traded sideouts, Kneubuhl hammered a kill past the Punahou block to close the match.
"Between (Punahou) giving us a good fight and us making a lot of errors, we got in trouble," Maa said. "We made some adjustments in the fourth game and I was proud of them, they scrapped."
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