HONOLULU — The Iolani Raiders continue to hammer away at an elusive Interscholastic League of Honolulu volleyball championship.
Iolani, which handily won the ILH’s round-robin first round of the season, moved within a match of securing the overall league title by besting Punahou in the double-elimination ILH tournament, 25-22, 23-25, 25-20, 28-26 on Tuesday night in the Raiders’ gym.
Senior hitter Senna Roberts-Navarro had a huge game with 28 kills on .403 hitting and 15 digs to pace the Raiders (10-1), who await the winner of Thursday’s match between Punahou (7-5) and Kamehameha (6-6) for a chance at securing their first ILH crown since 2015.
“I think that even though we didn’t have that many aces, we hit our spots really well, which set up to play defense really well,” Roberts-Navarro, the Spectrum OC16 Impact Player of the Game, told Jimmy Bender.
Iolani, which has already secured a state berth, was last state champion in 2018.
“It means a lot. Everyone on the team, we haven’t been to states. It’s crazy,” said Roberts-Navarro of knowing her team is guaranteed at least that much.
Kamehameha, the two-time defending state champion, is fighting to maintain a two-decade streak of qualification to states. Chris Blake's Warriors knocked out Mid-Pacific in straight sets Tuesday to keep hope alive.
Next, they’ll have to beat Punahou at Hemmeter Fieldhouse at 5 p.m. Thursday.
Kamehameha has been in every top-tier girls volleyball state final since 2003 and in every Division I tournament since 2002.
Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii.