Girls volleyball

The Punahou girls volleyball team showed what it has to work with last week, now its rival Kamehameha’s turn. The Warriors will begin their 2015 season in their own tournament, taking on 15 other schools from around the islands in the Hawaii Volleyball Invitational. The tournament begins on Thursday at Kamehameha and runs through Saturday, when a champion will be crowned after a 1 p.m. title match. Kamehameha, ranked No. 2 in the latest Star-Advertiser media poll, opens with Waimea […]

The email came in moments ago with an interesting fact: Santa Margarita Catholic defeated defending champion Punahou 22-25, 25-15, 15-12 in the championship game of the Ann Kang Invitational Volleyball Tournament at ‘Iolani. Reporter Stan Lee and photographer Cindy Ellen Russell covered the match for us and their work will appear on the Star-Advertiser.com website. The same two teams met on Thursday’s opening day, when the Buffanblu won a three-setter over the Eagles. They just got by, 15-13, in the […]

Winning three out of the last four Division I state championships doesn’t mean a whole lot when a new season begins. That’s the case for the Punahou girls volleyball team as it prepares for the defense of its crown at the Ann Kang Invitational this week. “It’s a new vibe,” coach Tanya Fuamatu-Anderson said about the 2015 version of the Buffanblu, intimating that it isn’t better or worse than last year, just different. Gone to graduation are hitter McKenna Granato […]

Oahu schools Punahou and ‘Iolani are the only remaining undefeated teams in the 2015 Ann Kang Invitational, hosted by ‘Iolani. The Raiders wrapped up day two by sweeping Boswell (Fort Worth, Texas) 25-15, 25-12 in a battle of the top teams of Pool B. Meanwhile, in Pool A, Punahou breezed through the daily competition by sweeping Mid-Pacific, Clovis (California) and Moanalua. Teams will wrap up pool play starting at 8 a.m Saturday followed by classification matches starting at noon, while […]

Konawaena head coach Ainsley Keawekane is on Oahu for this week’s Ann Kang Invitational Volleyball Tournament. He obviously didn’t come here to escape the mugginess and heat of Kailua-Kona. It’s the same stifling weather here, maybe worse. A few hours after flying in on Thursday, he actually went and changed his clothes due to the sweat factor. The two-time defending Division II state championship coach was greeted by Hawaii Prep World at the ‘Iolani gym. The discussion turned to the […]

Defending champion Punahou joined Mater Dei, Iolani and Boswell as the only undeated teams after the first day of the Ann Kang Invitational at Iolani on Thursday. Boswell was the only team to not drop a set and meets Iolani on Friday at 8 p.m. at the lower gym. Punahou dropped one to Santa Margarita and Mater Dei went the distance against Mid-Pacific. Punahou and Mater Dei will not hook up until Saturday at 10 a.m. Kalaheo and Kamehameha-Maui look […]

The 2015 girls volleyball season begins this week with tournaments at Castle and Waiakea. The first annual Nelly Invitational promises to be an emotional affair, being run for the first time in honor of longtime coach Danell Yanagida, who died last year at 33 years old. Castle coach Grant Tolentino, who coached Yanagida as a player, put together the event with seven other teams accepting invitations. Yanagida was the program’s JV girls volleyball coach and an assistant for the boys […]