The HHSAA probably never had an easier time picking a top seed for a tournament.
Punahou drew the No. 1 spot for the Stanford Carr Development Girls Water Polo State Championship today.
The ILH champions have won the tournament in each of the last eight years and are favorites to add another beginning May 4 at the Duke Kahanamoku Aquatic Complex.
Punahou meets the winner between Hawaii Prep and Kaiser on Thursday. The Buffanblu are a perfect 30-0 in the tournament dating back to 2004.
OIA champion Kahuku, which is still drying off from winning the OIA title (their seventh straight) over Roosevelt a little over an hour ago, is the second seed and will face either Baldwin or Kapolei.
The Red Raiders have been knocked out of every tournament since 2004 by an ILH team.
KS-Hawaii is the third seed and meets either Kamehameha or Kalani. Lahainaluna wraps up Lalelei Mataafa‘s career as the fourth seed against either Roosevelt of Waialua.
Mataafa needs six goals to match former Lahainaluna standout Moana Tuipolotu for most goals (15) for a Maui player in state tournament history (In winner’s bracket games only). Former Kamehameha standout Nanea Fujiyama holds the record with 36 and will not be threatened this year.
Here are the complete brackets:
2016 HHSAA girls water polo bracket(1)
Lalelei has 28 goals through three years at state tournament.
Thanks, Gator, I will check it, but I think the discrepancy is I only counted winner’s bracket games. 3+3+3=9. I will clarify it.
Oh I see
30-0, wow! I guess we all know who will be winning states again.
We’ll once again see a dual ILH vs OIA semifinals with Punahou easily beating Kamehameha in the finals. Punahou is a little more dominant than usual this year
That 30-0 stat is interesting and made me want to look at a few more stats.
ILH vs non-ILH prior to this year: 56-1
All 6 of the current BIIF teams have appeared in the tournament at least twice.
3 MIL teams (Seabury, King Kekaulike, Maui), and 2 ILH teams (Pac5, Le Jardin) have never made the tournament.
9 of the 17 OIA teams have never made the tournament and this year is Waialua’s first appearance. And interesting to see that 3 of the biggest OIA schools in Campbell, Waipahu, and Farrington that have never made states.