MID-PACIFIC TURNS BACK NO. 5 PUNAHOU FOR FIRST WIN OVER BUFFANBLU SINCE 2010

HONOLULU — Not a bad time to pick up your first league win of the year.

Mid-Pacific earned its first win in ILH Division I play by eliminating No. 5 Punahou in reverse sweep fashion, 22-25, 18-25, 25-15, 25-23, 15-10, in a win-or-go-home match at Hemmeter Fieldhouse Saturday afternoon.

“They’ve been working hard all year,” said Owls coach David Bayne, who’s team won the D2 state title a year ago.

“To see the result like this, that’s kind of what we hoped for. That’s kind of what we’re pushing them to do so hopefully we can keep it going.”

Not only was it the Owls’ first victory of the season, it was also their first over the Buffanblu since Sept. 9, 2010, snapping a 32-match losing streak to Punahou.

“We’re pretty excited,” said Bayne. “Anytime you beat Punahou at sport… they’re elite at pretty much everything so we’ll take what we can get.”

Mid-Pacific, who has bounced between D1 and D2 with its classification exemption, also snapped a 46-match losing streak to ILH D1 competition.

With sophomore setter Milan Scanlan at the controls with 52 assists, three different Mid-Pacific players registered double-digit kills.

Destiny Look had a match-high 21 kills, senior Nikko Stack had a double-double of 17 kills and 18 digs and Kawena Palaualelo had 13 kills to round out the top attackers.

Three other players joined Look with double-digit digs. Scanlan added 16, libero Mari senior Furoyama had 27 and Mia Furoyama had 12.

Seven different players also registered aces for the Owls, who tallied 12 total.

“We talked about really wanting it for our seniors because they’ve done so much for us,” said Scanlan.

“We just knew that we needed to lock in and push and we knew that we’re a good team and we can compete with all these teams that we had to play against and we just decided to really push and focus.”

For the most part, Mid-Pacific had the early advantage early on but just couldn’t capitalize. In the opening frame, the Owls held a 20-17 lead before getting outscored 8-2 to close the set.

The second set was even more of a let down as Mid-Pacific had a 18-15 lead before giving up a 10-0 run with Kennedy Lee at the service line to give the Buffanblu a 2-0 advantage.

Then Stack turned it on.

Held to just four kills in the first two sets, the senior outside hitter put down six kills in the third set and five in the fourth set to force the fifth and final deciding set.

“Nikko really turns it on,” said Scanlan. “I knew how bad she wanted it and I knew that was where my point scorer was going to be and she showed up and showed out.”

Mid-Pacific then rode the momentum in the final stanza with a commanding 11-4 lead before winning the set, 15-10.

Punahou was led by True Takemoto’s 16 kills and 25 digs in the season-ending loss.

The Buffanblu had a bit of an unfortunate injury luck in the matchup. They were limiting outside hitter Kealoha Cox, who was dealing with a shoulder injury and saw starting setter Makenna Mello tweak her ankle at the end of the fourth set.

Mid-Pacific will next play at Kamehameha on Tuesday in another win-or-go-home situation.