RANKINGS: Punahou and Kamehameha tied at the top

They’ve split their two regular-season matches and now they’re split at the top of the Honolulu Star-Advertiser Girls Volleyball Top 10.

Kamehameha and Punahou each received five first-place votes and are tied for No. 1 in the latest rankings released today.

Both teams are 8-1 and could potentially play for a state berth later this week. Punahou hosts Mid-Pacific while Kamehameha plays at No. 3 ‘Iolani on Tuesday. If both teams win, they would meet in a tiebreaker for first place in Quad 1 in the ILH’s new eight-team Division I format this season.

Punahou won in two sets in the first meeting this season that was best-of-three while Kamehameha came back to win in five last week in a best-of-five match.

The winners of the two four-team quadrants in the ILH automatically clinch a state berth and will play each other this weekend for the right to play for the overall ILH championship next Friday.

No. 7 Le Jardin has clinched a state-tournament berth as the winner of Quad 2.

Defending state champion ‘Iolani, which lost to Punahou in five sets on Friday with Elena Oglivie back in the lineup, drops to No. 3 this week. One of the state’s top three teams in the rankings will not qualify for the Division I state tournament.

As tight as it is at the top in the ILH, the same holds true in the OIA.

Undefeated OIA East leader Moanalua and unbeaten OIA West front-runner Mililani tied for the No. 4 spot in the rankings with 63 votes each. Both teams received four fourth-place votes, five fifth-place votes and one sixth-place vote.

The OIA wraps up its regular-season play this week.

The bottom five spots in the rankings all remain the same with No. 6 Kahuku followed by Le Jardin, Kamehameha-Hawaii, Kapolei and King Kekaulike.

Kamehameha-Maui received one vote.

Honolulu Star-Advertiser Top 10