By KIM BAXTER
By KIM BAXTER
Tribune-Herald correspondent
HONOLULU — The Kamehameha-Hawaii boys volleyball team nearly pulled off one of the most improbable championship match upsets in the history of the Hawaii state tournament.
Relying on basically one hitter to carry the team against the most dominant program in the state, the Warriors took top-seeded, top-ranked and undefeated Punahou to the brink Saturday night. They just came up two points short.
In a match that featured Evan Enriques blasting an incredible 42 kills and the high drama of Kamehameha’s setter succumbing to an unfortunate ankle injury midway through the night, Punahou outblasted and outlasted the Warriors 23-25, 25-18, 23-25, 25-11, 15-13 in what has to be considered one of the most thrilling state title matches ever. And as the final kill hit the floor, sealing Punahou’s 30th state championship, all third-seeded Kamehameha (18-1) could do was fight the utter disappointment at coming so close to winning the school’s first state title. Athletes collapsed onto the court at Neal Blaisdell Arena and had to be pulled up by consoling teammates. Almost all the players fought tears as they were given the runner-up trophy.
It was an emotional sideline as the players and coaches came to terms with the disappointment of what they had lost but what they had also accomplished.
“I feel like I won a state championship,” said coach Guy Enriques, who is the father of star Evan Enriques. “The way things were going, we could have quit many times throughout the course of this. But I’m so proud of these kids. They fought through it all and I couldn’t ask for anything more from this team.”
“I would’ve never thought we’d come this close to beating Punahou,” said senior DJ Grant-Johnson. “This is my dream to play in this tournament. … I couldn’t ask for anything more. I’m just so proud.”
It started as a championship match that looked, at least on paper, to be severely lopsided. Punahou (18-0), with its balanced and potent offense featuring four powerful hitters standing 6-foot-2 and taller, seemed liked it should dominate a Kamehameha team that has relied on Enriques all season long. After splitting the first two sets, Kamehameha clung to a 22-21 lead in Game 3 when Punahou served a ball into the net. The seemingly innocuous play ended with heartbreak for the Warriors, though, as senior setter Daniel Aina Jr. stepped on a teammate’s foot and rolled his left ankle. He hobbled off the court, and as the trainer taped his ankle, his team managed to pull out the victory to take a 2-1 lead in the match.
But it was a difficult injury to overcome. Enriques had to get creative with his lineups and used freshman Emmett Enriques, his son, as a setter. Kamehameha was out of sync as Punahou rolled to an easy Set 4 win. In the fifth and deciding set, Kamehameha had to go to a 6-2 lineup, using two setters: Emmett Enriques and Grant-Johnson. They rotated as setters until Guy Enriques felt like it was time to make one last push. Knowing his injured setter would have limited time on the court because of his hurt ankle, he waited to insert Aina Jr. in the match until Punahou led 11-10.
Two straight Evan Enriques kills – with assists from Aina Jr. – knotted the score at 13-13, but the Buffanblu ended the championship match with two straight kills.
“When (Aina Jr.) goes down, we have a hard time adjusting the lineup,” Guy Enriques said. “It’s such a key spot. So we wanted to put him in at the right time to sort of give us a spark. All we wanted to do at the very end was to stay close and put him in long enough that he could sustain. … It was a great effort.”
It was yet another remarkable effort from Evan Enriques, who recorded 42 of the team’s 53 kills. He took 110 swings, this after recording a career-high 112 swings in the semifinal win over Moanalua on Friday. Against Punahou, he almost always faced huge triple blocks, and his swings were often stuffed.
But his incredible performance – which included seven kills in the fifth set – put Kamehameha in position to pull off the upset.
“I know I’m going to get blocked,” Enriques said. “It’s pretty obvious. The main thing is to just come back with the next one and keep swinging. Triple block, I’ve been seeing that the whole game. Swing high and hope for the best. It’s really hard sometimes because you get frustrated, but the main thing is to keep swinging.”
After the loss, Guy Enriques said he would not spend any time wondering what might have been if not for Aina Jr.’s injury, if only a bounce or two had gone their way.
“That was the given situation,” the coach said. “It’s not whether you win or lose; it’s how you handle what you’re given. And these guys are champions. … I feel like a winner. We have won. These kids are going to go home, (and) they’re not going to feel depressed. They know they did everything they could’ve done given the situation. They’re champions.”
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