A potential "trap match" proved deadly indeed for four-time defending Division I girls volleyball state champion Kamehameha last night, as defending DII state champ Hawai'i Baptist stunned the Warriors, 20-25, 25-20, 26-24.

A crowd of about 350 at Kamehameha's Kekuhaupi'o Gym watched the Eagles — ranked No. 7 in The Advertiser's statewide Top 10 poll of coaches and media — improve to 11-2 in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu heading into tomorrow's showdown against defending DII state runner-up Word of Life (10-3).

The No. 2-ranked Warriors, who just returned from a three-day, seven-match trip to the prestigious Durango (Las Vegas) Fall Classic late Sunday night, fell to 12-1 entering tomorrow's showdown with No. 1 Punahou (13-0).

The (5 p.m.) HBA-Word of Life and (7 p.m.) Kamehameha-Punahou matches will be shown live statewide on OC16 from Kekuhaupi'o.

That leaves little time for the Eagles to celebrate their first victory over the Warriors in recent memory, but they took a few moments to cherish the win last night.

"It's just amazing," said Hawai'i Baptist senior outside hitter Sarah Palmer, who finished with a match-high 16 kills. "We've never beaten them since I've been here, so this is huge."

It took three match points to finally pull it off, with Palmer ending it on a spike down the middle off a free-ball Kamehameha dig that rebounded straight back to her.

Palmer's off-speed kill from an unintentional step-out move had given the Eagles first match point at 24-22, but Misty Ma'a's kill off a block cut it to 24-23 and a crosscourt kill by Taylor Akana tied it at 24-24.

But a net violation gave HBA a third match point, and this time Palmer would cash in, first with the spike off the dig and then the smash off the rebound.

"It was another opportunity to end the match, and I wanted to finish it right there," Palmer said.

The Warriors caught a tough break even before first serve, when starting setter Kelci Renshaw turned her ankle during warmups after stepping on a teammate's foot. She ended up sitting out the match.

But Kamehameha still took Set 1, pulling away from an 18-18 tie after a couple Eagles errors and scoring the final four points on two kills by Ma'a, Nicole Sniffen's block and Cara Rosehill's ace.

Hawai'i Baptist then responded with a fury in Set 2, racing out to an 11-3 lead highlighted by Palmer's four kills.

The Warriors closed to 13-10, but a 4-1 Eagles run pushed the lead back to 17-11. Kamehameha rallied again to close to 19-16 and 22-19, but HBA closed it out with three kills by C'era Oliveira.

"We started well in the second set, which we didn't do in the first," Palmer said. "We had some tough serving, and we executed every pass."

The Warriors built an 11-7 lead in the third set, but a back row attack violation and two hitting errors helped the Eagles score four straight to tie it. The game stayed tight thereafter, with neither team going up by more than two points.

"Their defense is always their trademark, and they force you to put down multiple balls before you can score a point," Kamehameha coach Chris Blake said. "They played in their system and made key plays at key times. They deserved to win."

Hawai'i Baptist coach Myles Shioji said he liked the way his team finished last night's match, after coming close in losses to Punahou and 'Iolani earlier this season.

"I don't really like that term, 'wanting it more.' To me, it's usually about who executes best at the end," Shioji said. "The credit goes to the girls — they worked hard and I'm extremely happy for them."

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