Punahou's Kanai Akana puts down a kill attempt against La Jolla. Peter Caldwell | SL

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Punahou and Moanalua advanced into the semifinal round of the eight annual Hawaii Boys Volleyball Invitational thanks to some clutch play in crunch time.

The Buffanblu swept La Jolla (San Diego), 25-14, 27-25 in the third quarterfinal game at Iolani's lower gymnasium Friday. Punahou was without its de facto leader in senior Micah Maa, who sat the whole day with some back issues.

Punahou was able to win its first set with relative ease, but needed extras in the second set to down the Vikings. It was the closest the defending state champions got to dropping a set all year, a great learning experience for a relatively young group.

"First thing I told the boys after the match was done was we grew up in a lot of ways in that set," said Punahou coach Rick Tune. "We needed to be pushed, we need to be in sets like that. We need to be down when the other team is at 20 and we need to be in all different types of situations and figure out how to win."

Stepping up in Maa's absence was Wil Stanley who had 15 assists, six kills, three digs, two aces and one block.

"This game was great, it just boosts all of our confidence," said Stanley. "We've had some close game, but this game was the closest. La Jolla is good. They are a great team to be tested against. We really grew up out there. It was fun and I loved it."

Leading the Buffanblu in kills was freshman outside hitter Kanai Akana with eight. Before Hunter Johnson's match-sealing block, Akana recorded the three previous points for Punahou.

"Kanai is a great player," Stanley said. "For a freshman, he's got unbelievable talent."

Ethan Lewis had six kills and Sam Bradley added four more. Rohan Watamull, Kainoa Qundica and Todd Gruebner combined for six total kills. Libero Kelsey Yogi added a match-high 19 digs.

Dane Pieper had a match-high 11 kills to lead the visiting Vikings in the loss. Curran Robertson added 11 digs and Gavin Heap had a match-high 20 assists.

In the final quarterfinal of the night, Moanalua dropped the first set, but bounced back to down Hawaii Baptist, 27-25, 29-27, 15-13.

Austin Matautia, a 6-foot-4 junior, led Na Menehune in the contest with a 25 kills, four digs, two aces and one block.

"I thought this was a good experience to challenge such a good team like HBA," said Matautia. "They got us in the first set, but we just had to focus on our side."

Moanalua had a trio of juniors assisting Matautia in the victory. Setter Zach Marasco-Ayau had 36 assists and three digs, Seyj Engleman had nine kills and seven digs and Kamalu Kaaa had four kills and three blocks.

"The young guys have stepped up a lot," said Matautia. "Without them we wouldn't be where we are today. Everyday in the gym they're just giving it 100 percent."

Matautia also says the experience against a multi-dimensional hitting team in Hawaii Baptist will help Moanalua down the stretch in league play. The Eagles' BJ Hosaka dished out 41 assists to five different hitters. Opposite hitter Isaac Liva was the biggest beneficiary with 17 kills. Middle blocker Brett Miller added 10 and Caleb Fisher had eight more.

"This game provides us match against a team that has many different options," said Matautia. "They have players that can hit from different spots on the floor. This just prepares us for teams in our league that are good like Kahuku, Roosevelt, and even when we play the west side in the OIA playoffs."

Punahou will play Kamehameha-Hawaii in the 11:30 a.m. semifinal on Saturday. Moanalua will face Kamehameha-Kapalama in the 12:45 p.m. semifinal that follows. The championship game is set for 3:15 p.m.