Nu‘uhiwa leads Punahou
over Kamehameha
When it was all over, Punahou setter Pohai Nu'uhiwa sounded more like an entertainer than the volleyball standout that she is.
Actually, Nu'uhiwa filled both roles quite nicely last night in leading the Buffanblu to a 25-23, 25-23, 26-24 victory over host Kamehameha at Kekuhaupi'o Gym.
The victory gave Punahou the overall Interscholastic League of Honolulu title and the league's top seed in next week's state tournament. The Warriors get the ILH's second berth.
"We like to give people their money's worth," Nu'uhiwa said with a smile.
Punahou's win was anything but easy, as little separated the teams yesterday. But that only made the Buffanblu's ability to close out the match all the more rewarding as they overcame deficits of seven and five in Games 2 and 3.
"We stayed patient," Nu'uhiwa said. "When we were down, we nailed every pass, our serves were good, and we just came back off of that. There was no way we were going to put our heads down when we trailed by six. But we were pushed the whole way, and that's what we needed heading into the state tournament."
As has been the case all season, Nu'uhiwa's setting was on the mark yesterday, helping set the table for teammate Aneli Cubi-Otineru -- who had a monster match with 20 kills -- and driving the Buffanblu across the finish line with clutch play in Game 2.
Larissa Nordyke and Kaui Robello also figured big for Punahou with 11 and 10 kills. The Buffanblu also had 55 digs for the match, led by Nu'uhiwa's 13.
"That's a lot of comebacks for one night, so we were fortunate to have pulled out that third one," said Punahou coach Scott Rigg, whose team is 16-0 overall after finishing 4-0 in the ILH's second round. "You don't want to be doing that too often, but we have a group whose will to win doesn't go away. We just had to weather the storm. That was one of the things we talked about coming in. We thought we'd have to make some comebacks, and the kids stayed patient all night. That's a key, especially up here. And we know Kamehameha is going to be back. They're going to be tough in the states."
Punahou, which trailed 9-2 early in Game 2, faced a 23-20 deficit when Cubi-Otineru took matters into her own hands. She delivered back-to-back kills, which cut the lead to 23-22, forcing Kamehameha to call a timeout.
Cubi-Otineru then teamed with Nordyke for a block on the Warriors' Mounia Nihipali to tie the score. Seconds later, she added another block, and Robello followed with a service ace to give Punahou its 2-0 lead.
"We had to take one point at a time," Cubi-Otineru said. "We try and pick each other up because if one person is down (mentally), the whole team's down."
In Game 3, Kamehameha (15-2) put the pressure on again, moving out to a 12-8 lead. But following a Punahou timeout, Cubi-Otineru laid down consecutive kills to kick-start a Buffanblu comeback that tied the score at 13. From there, the teams were tied nine times -- the last time at 24 -- before kills by Nordyke and Robello sealed the win.
"Punahou did an excellent job of putting us into bad positions at the ends of the games," Kamehameha coach Chris Blake said. "They executed very well. We just couldn't find a way to finish. Luckily for us, we have a few days to get things together for the states."
Kristen Ponce and Makana Recca led Kamehameha with eight kills each, and Nihipali had seven.
