LAIE, Hawaii — Same legacy, new era.
Punahou clung to that mantra through successes and failures alike during a tumultuous 2023 boys volleyball season. Nine titles in the trophy case dating back to 2012 meant essentially zero to a group of entirely new starters.
It meant that struggles unlike those experienced by the teams that came before them were okay. Welcomed, even, in service to a larger goal.
The mantra fittingly came into play once again Saturday night as the Buffanblu weathered a tough start against Kamehameha, only to rally for a rousing reverse sweep of the Warriors at Brigham Young Hawaii’s Cannon Activities Center, 19-25, 17-25, 25-19, 25-23, 15-10.
The Buffanblu earned a 10th consecutive title under Rick Tune by taking a route wholly unlike those traveled by their predecessors.
“We let go of what’s behind,” Tune said as Buffanblu supporters swarmed the team on the Seasiders’ floor. “It’s a process. It’s like building a house. You can’t put the roof on before you pour the foundation.”
In Saturday’s title match, Kahale Clini had 23 kills against 17 errors on 62 swings, Evan Porter suppled 11 kills and 16 digs and Ian Kinney had 13 kills. Together, they managed to offset a massive 30-kill, 10-dig, 10-block, three-ace match from Kamehameha’s sophomore star Kainoa Wade, who earned the rare honor of tournament Most Outstanding Player in a losing effort.
Libero Matthew Chun dug 24 balls and setters Elijah Smith and Kanalu Akana combined for 58 assists.
That core group comprised the 2022 “B side” at practice. They were the unseen helpers to a group of upperclassmen who led the Buffanblu to a resumption of their dominance after two seasons lost to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Those B-siders, led by the 6-foot-4 junior Clini, a member of the USA Volleyball Under-19 team who is verbally committed to play for UCLA, took pride in pushing the old starters and future Division I players like Keau Thompson, Riley Haine and Aidan Tune, sometimes even beating them at practice.
“We knew every day was the best matchup we could play against,” Clini said. “They pushed us super hard and we pushed them just as hard. We showed them we’re going to compete with you guys and beat you guys, and we did that constantly throughout the season.”
But as for doing it themselves when it mattered? No. This season represented a clean slate. In the Buffanblu’s first ILH match, they lost in four to Hawaii Baptist Academy, a solid program but one not normally a threat to mighty Punahou.
“Every team is a different challenge,” Rick Tune said. “Some people might think it’s easy some years, and it’s never easy. There’s always a Rubik's Cube that you have to solve in order to figure out what the next step is and how to get there.”
This year the cube was scrambled, dropped in the ocean, seemingly lost multiple times, then solved a moment before impending disaster.
Punahou’s would-be starting setter went down for the year with an injury in training camp. Two backups with little game experience, junior Smith and freshman Akana, had to learn the 6-2 system on the job.
On the upside, they had multiple solid, if untested, offensive options. Clini grew into a workhorse role, but Punahou could go to the hitter Porter and opposite Kinney to spread it around. Adam Haidar and James Taras anchored the middle.
Three matches after the HBA loss, the Buffanblu beat Kamehameha and Wade in five sets, the first of what would be seven battles with the Warriors on the season. Six of those seven meetings went five, including three that went the distance in three days in early May to determine the ILH title, finally claimed by Kamehameha.
The Buffanblu proved exceptionally difficult to put away, a stubbornness exemplified by their refusal to go down in Friday’s semifinal against top-seeded Moanalua after they faced three straight match points in the fourth set.
On Saturday at BYUH, the Buffanblu were soundly outplayed in the first two sets and it looked like the Warriors were well on their way to earning their first title since the Micah Christenson-led squad of 2011.
Punahou wasn’t passing well, but it was executing its defensive game plan, Tune said, so there was no panic; he figured the former would come around eventually. It did.
The Buffanblu trailed 22-20 in the fourth, three points from defeat, only to score five of the next six points to send the match to a fifth frame.
“Having a young team is really hard for a lot of teams,” said Porter, whose tough serves keyed a 5-0 Buffanblu run to begin the fifth. “But it was amazing for all of us to see who stepped up as leaders and really come together and everyone does their part to redevelop this team.”
When Porter was shaky throughout the season, Tune would pull him in favor of his backup, Brody Badham. And Porter would always give Badham, his best friend, a huge hug on his way off the floor. Porter would genuinely root for his backup’s success from the bench, Tune said.
“Anytime I’m struggling, I know he’s there to back me up,” Porter said. “Same thing with anyone else on this team. We all have each other’s backs. The reason why this team is so great is because we’re such good friends on and off the court. So being able to have that on the court — hug another brother, get yourself back in the game, is kind of what makes this special.”
One of the closing images of Saturday night was Clini bear-hugging any teammate in the vicinity.
Tune was asked in the postgame chaos if this team grew the most from start to finish of any title team he had.
“I can truly say that,” Tune said. “And it’s rooted for their love for each other.”
Some more shots from Punahou's victory:
Brian McInnis covers the state's sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.