Kamehameha triumphed in the HHSAA Division I boys volleyball championship match on Saturday night, downing Punahou 25-27, 25-23, 25-17, 25-21 at the Neal S. Blaisdell Center.
The Warriors won their first state title since 2011 with the victory. Since then, it was all Punahou for 12 years, excluding the tournaments in 2020 and 2021 that were not held due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and including 2023’s five-set final in which Kamehameha led the Buffanblu 2-0 but couldn’t finish the job.
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Kamehameha was led by the play of University of Hawaii commit Kainoa Wade, who had a match-high 34 kills and 11 digs for a double-double.
“I’m still speechless, to be honest,” Wade said after the match. “It’s just such a long time coming and I’m so proud of these boys. I’m so proud of all of them.”
On Saturday, the Warriors were up 16-12 in the first set, but allowed the Buffanblu to come back and win the set.
The Warriors, undeterred, won the next three sets, clinching the school’s first state title in 13 years.
“All the stress, it’s like a year-round, this job, it makes it worth it,” Kamehameha head coach Sava Agpoon said following the match. “Not to say last year wasn’t worth it, too. But a learning lesson every year.”
“We were up big in that first set. We should have been out of here in three, to be honest,” Wade added. “We knew it was a couple points here and there. Our errors, our mistakes, we just needed a couple digs and a couple blocks and that’s what we did and came up with it.”
Agpoon, who won his first state title as a head coach, credited his staff as well following the match, which included former University of Hawaii outside hitter Filip Humler.
The last time Kamehameha won a state title, the Warriors were led by setter Micah Christenson, who is set to play in his third Olympic games this summer. Agpoon has raved about Wade’s talent and potential, and now they both have a state title on their respective resumes.
Agpoon credited Wade, as well as the passing of the rest of the Warriors, as the keys to victory on Saturday. He hopes Saturday’s championship can propel the Warriors to more state titles down the line.
“It’s something that I’ve been wanting to work on creating a legacy, not just make this a one-time thing,” he said. “We want to try to make it multiple times like (Punahou’s) program and (Kamehameha girls coach) Chris Blake does with the girls program.”
Despite his standing as a high school junior, Kainoa Wade has played in his final prep match. In January, he will enroll at UH-Manoa, where he will play for his father, Charlie.
With the Warriors one win away from a state title on Saturday night, Wade wanted the ball set to him and got his wish, hammering a kill and closing out his high school career on top.
“I 100% knew it was coming to me,” Wade said of match point. “There was no way it wasn’t. It was amazing. I’m speechless. The whole team had such a great game.
“This is so big. We just built a legacy at Kamehameha. We’re gonna go down as one of the best to ever do it at our school. It’s incredible.”