Punahou slid comfortably into the Interscholastic League of Honolulu girls volleyball driver's seat last night, holding off four-time defending state champion Kamehameha, 25-22, 18-25, 25-21.

An estimated crowd of about 600 at Kamehameha's Kekuhaupi'o Gym and a live statewide OC16 TV audience watched the Buffanblu — ranked No. 1 in The Advertiser's statewide Top 10 poll of coaches and media — improve to 14-0 in the ILH, all alone in first place. The Warriors, ranked No. 2, fell to 12-2 after their second straight loss.

"We feel really good," said Punahou middle blocker Carina Thompson, who had 10 kills. "Our coach (Jim Iams) actually gave us the day off tomorrow, so we get to rest and catch up on schoolwork."

The Buffanblu certainly earned the break, after sweeping No. 5 'Iolani (13-2) last Saturday and Sacred Hearts (10-4) on Tuesday.

Punahou jumped to a 10-3 lead in the first set last, but Kamehameha rallied to close to 12-10 after a kill and block by Talia Jardin-Fermentez. The Warriors kept it close at 16-14, but Juliana Behrens' kill off an overset ball started a 4-0 run that pushed Punahou's lead to 20-14.

Kamehameha staged a late rally to cut it to 23-22, but Thompson got a kill down the middle and Lahela Williams' ace ended it.

The second set started out tight and was tied 14-14, but three Buffanblu errors helped the Warriors go on a 5-0 run for a 19-14 lead and Punahou could not get closer than four points after that.

The tide turned again in the third set, as three Kamehameha errors helped the Buffanblu to a 5-0 run that put them up, 9-4. Brigitte Russo had a kill and a block to help push the lead to 13-6, but the Warriors chipped away and cut it to 13-10.

That is when Punahou went back to its middle attack, led by Thompson, Behrens and Russo.

Quick middle spikes by Russo and Thompson helped push the lead to 17-11, and Thompson slammed another one down the center to make it 19-14.

Kamehameha got its own middle kill from Jardin-Fermentez to close it to 19-17, and a misfire into the net by the Buffanblu closed it to 20-19. Russo answered with another middle strike to make it 21-19, but Jardin-Fermentez responded again to cut it to 21-20.

Warriors outside hitter Misty Ma'a then had an open swing from the right side, but the ball sailed out to make it 22-20, and Tai Manu-Olevao's line kill put Punahou up, 23-20. Cara Rosehill's kill closed it to 23-21, but another hit went long and Thompson ended it with a kill on a rebound shot off a dig.

"I think Misty puts that ball down nine out of 10 times, but she just got a little too much on it that time," Kamehameha coach Chris Blake said. "But I told our girls one of the keys for us is to be aggressive, so I can live with aggressive errors more than tentative play."

OLIVEIRA, PALMER HELP HBA RALLY PAST WOLA

C'era Oliveira had 14 kills and Sarah Palmer added 13 kills and three aces last night as Hawai'i Baptist rallied past Word of Life, 21-25, 25-20, 25-10, in a rematch of last year's Division II girls volleyball state championship match at Kekuhaupi'o Gym.

The defending champ Eagles, ranked No. 7 in The Advertiser's statewide Top 10 poll of coaches and media, improved to 12-2 in the ILH. The Firebrands fell to 10-4.

HBA was coming off an upset of four-time DI state champion Kamehameha on Tuesday, but Word of Life stole the first set with a stunning 8-1 run to finish the set.

The Eagles rebounded strongly and never trailed in the second set, although the Firebrands had it tied at 14-14. Word of Life kept it close at 22-20, but Hawai'i Baptist finished it off with two kills by Oliveira and Brianna Lovett's block.

"In the first set we weren't talking enough, we weren't communicating," said Palmer, a senior outside hitter. "We changed that in the second set, we started calling out the blockers and where the shots were."

The Eagles jumped to a 4-0 lead in Set 3 and never looked back. Led by Palmer's four kills, block and ace, HBA pushed the lead to 9-2, 11-3 and 13-4 and never looked back.

Read his blog on high school sports at http://preptalk.honadvblogs.com