HONOLULU — When you come at the king, you’d better not miss.
Moanalua had everything going in its favor to end the Punahou boys volleyball dynasty. The top seed. The Big Three. The home gym. A rollicking crowd. And multiple in-system swings at the ball to put the nail in the coffin.
But the dynasty would not die. The nine-time defending state champion Buffanblu overcame all of it to defeat Na Menehune in a classic five-setter, 25-22, 21-25, 20-25, 27-25, 15-11 in the New City Nissan/HHSAA Division I semifinals on Friday night.
“We have the heart of a champion,” said triumphant coach Rick Tune. “They never, ever, give up. You gotta put the silver bullet through the middle of our head to take us out.”
Punahou (13-5) will go for a 10th straight title with Interscholastic League of Honolulu rival Kamehameha (12-3) standing in the way at 7 p.m. at BYU-Hawaii’s Cannon Activities Center on Saturday night, following the 5 p.m. Division II championship, another all-ILH affair between University Lab School and Saint Louis.
In Friday’s second match at Moanalua, top-seeded Kamehameha made quick work of its sibling school Kamehameha-Hawaii, 25-16, 25-15, 25-17, behind 17 kills, five blocks and two aces from Kainoa Wade.
The main event was unquestionably the high-level duel between Moanalua and its Big Three of future University of Hawaii players, against Punahou, more vulnerable than usual with a team of players who did not partake meaningfully in the program’s past success.
In surreal fashion, Punahou turned back three Moanalua match points in the fourth set with the Na Menehune crowd ready to erupt, then sent it to the fifth where they rallied from a deficit one more time.
Hitter Kahale Clini led Punahou with 20 kills, eight digs and three block assists, including three kills after Moanalua led for the last time at 9-8 in the fifth.
A series of five-setters against Kamehameha during the ILH season — including three in three days to cap the league playoffs — seemed to help Punahou in crunch time.
“All we’ve done throughout this season is struggle in the very beginning. We love five setters,” Clini said. “This must have been our 10th, at least. But we know how to deal with the pressure coming into the fifth set, so this is nothing new for us. We knew what was on the line and we kept on fighting, giving 100%. That’s all we could do.”
Ian Kinney and Adam Porter added 14 kills apiece for Punahou. Elijah Smith had 31 assists and 11 digs while sharing setter duties with Kanalu Akana, who had a key ace for a 12-10 lead in the fifth. After Moanalua drew within 12-11, Punahou closed with kills from Clini and Porter and Moanalua made an attack error on match point.
The Big Three of Kai Rodriguez, Justin Todd and Zack Yewchuk, transplanted players from the U.S. mainland and Canada, could not deliver their shared goal of the school’s first state title after helping Moanalua to the Oahu Interscholastic Association’s first No. 1 seed in states in decades. Todd had 22 kills and 11 digs and Rodriguez had 20 kills and four blocks. Yewchuk was held to five kills and three blocks. Libero Kaden Sato had a dozen digs.
“I mean, obviously it sucks to lose, but I wouldn’t have wanted it to go any other way with this team,” Rodriguez said. “I mean, we played our hearts out and Punahou just won. There’s nothing else I can say. We just lost. It was a great game.”
It was apparent that the team, with some talented returning players and the notable newcomers, came together under coach Alan Cabanting exceptionally well in a short amount of time. After one big point, the diminutive Sato jumped into the arms of Yewchuk.
“I mean, that bond is forever. We’re friends forever, we’re family forever,” Rodriguez said. “It’s such a strong bond that we built in just a couple months.” He added that he felt far more prepared for Division I volleyball after experiencing the season in Hawaii.
Clini shares a club team with the Big Three and said he’d come to know their strengths and weaknesses since August. Punahou also beat Moanalua in five in the Clash of the Titans tournament in March.
The Buffanblu served tough throughout.
After Moanalua dropped a tight first set, Na Menehune rallied from down 21-17 in the second, seeming to draw strength from a questionable call and scoring eight straight points to take the set — seven in a row on Todd’s serve.
They rode that emotional high all the way through the third and to the cusp of victory in the fourth.
They had multiple in-system swings to end it, but the Buffanblu block stiffened and passing picked up when it mattered. Kinney and Adam Haidar blocked Rodriguez to get it to 25-all, then Kinney and Clini put away kills to take it in extra points.
“This team’s been through battles all year. All year,” Tune said. “And we told them, look, every moment that we’ve gone through has prepared you for this moment right here. And it did. You saw their composure.”
Kamehameha and Punahou were 3-3 against each other during the ILH season and playoffs, with the Warriors finally prevailing for the ILH title. Clini said Moanalua was “the harder step” because the Buffanblu know the Wade-led Warriors well.
Tune said the team’s mind will not be on title No. 10, taking the mindset that this year’s group is competing for a championship all its own.
Brian McInnis covers the state's sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.