HONOLULU — The Iolani Raiders ended the suspense in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu girls volleyball tournament.
Iolani faltered in its first opportunity to put away Kamehameha for the ILH tournament title and overall league crown in the Raiders’ gym on Thursday.
The Warriors built on it by seizing the first set in the rematch Saturday, but the Raiders turned things around and eked out a 20-25, 25-23, 26-24, 25-22 decision to close out the double-elimination tournament and pair it with their convincing regular-season championship.
[Note: See below for more photos of the ILH girls volleyball championship.]
On match point, Callie Pieper's serve was difficult to handle and Iolani (12-1) claimed its second ILH title in three years.
Taimane Ainuu led the Raiders with 17 kills, four blocks and two aces, while Poema Kalama-Kingma added 12 kills and middle Georgie Lee 10.
Setter Bailey Nakanelua distributed 40 assists.
"I think it just shows how hard we've worked this whole season, especially coming off a loss on Thursday," Nakanelua said of the win on Iolani's live stream. "I'm super proud of us."
Iolani is the presumptive top seed in the upcoming New City Nissan/HHSAA Divison I Girls Volleyball Championships, which begin Oct. 28. An ILH team has won the top division for 20 straight editions of the tournament.
Iolani has four all-time, with three coming under coach Kainoa Obrey (2016, 2018, 2022).
Kamehameha’s Kala Chock put down a match-high 22 kills and got in on six blocks, while Kamana‘o Goldstein added 16 kills and Kalamaku Crabbe supplied 13 for the defending state champion Warriors (8-6), who previously clinched the ILH's second state tournament berth.
Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.