Punahou captured its fourth consecutive state crown — 33rd overall — with a four set win over Kamehameha-Hawaii in the New City Nissan/Hawaii High School Athletic Association Division I Boys Volleyball Championships at the Neal Blaisdell Center Saturday night.

Micah Maa had 26 kills and 15 digs to lead Punahou in a 25-23, 25-18, 25-27 and 25-13 victory in the Buffanblu's 11th straight title game. The senior outside hitter was selected as the most outstanding player in the tournament.

"It feels amazing," he said. "I was a part of four great teams. It's more about the journey, but it's nice to win them. I'm just honored."

It was the third time in four years that the two teams squared off against each other in the final. Senior Emmett Enriques led the Warriors in the loss with a match-high 33 kills.

The Buffanblu were able to neutralize the production of Enriques with contributions from a handful of sources. Wil Stanley delivered another solid all-around game with 25 assists, 16 kills, 10 digs and two solo blocks, JB Kam had six kills and Akahi Troske added five kills and a solo block. Also with kills for the Buffanblu were Rohan Watamull and Kainoa Quindica, who each had two. Setter Todd Gruebner finished with 25 assists.

"Everybody made plays and that's what we wanted to do," said Punahou coach Rick Tune. "They made the right reads and executed the game plan. Credit to those guys. Those guys studied, they watched film and they know what was coming at them."

KS-Hawaii, the second-seeded team in the tourney, was coming off a four set win over Moanalua in the semifinals. The Warriors were balanced in their win over Na Menehune as Enriques and Isaiah Laeha each had 18 kills apiece. Saturday was a different story as Laeha hit .080 and finished with just seven kills.

"That was a big part of our offense that was missing," KS-Hawaii coach Guy Enriques said on Laeha. "At one point he lost his contacts and got it stuck in his eye, and he didn't really come back strong from it."

Defensively the Buffanblu performed well against the Warriors' offense. Punahou libero Kelsey Yogi had a match-high 20 digs to help the Buffanblu limit KS-Hawaii to a .128 percentage. Troske led the front line with seven of the Buffanblu's 18 block assists.

"We did not want KS-Hawaii to beat us with tips and rolls," said Tune. "We always needed to know what the rotations and tip coverage were, and where their offensive patterns were coming from."

Punahou held the early lead in the opening set up until an attack error made it 18-all. Enriques and his younger brother Avery gave KS-Hawaii one-point advantages 19-18, and 20-19, but Punahou would get back into it from a pair of kills from Maa. 

A block by Troske and a Stanley kill put the Buffanblu back up ahead 22-20. The two teams traded the next four points and forced KS-Hawaii to call timeout with the score 24-22 in favor of Punahou. Enriques made it a one-point game out of the timeout before Stanley clinched the set off the feed from Gruebner.

KS-Hawaii jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the second set, but gave up a 8-3 run and was forced to burn a timeout. Although the Warriors regained the serve on Pukana Vincent's kill, Punahou slowly pulled away to make it a 15-10 game. The Buffanblu's lead eventually blossomed into a 20-14 advantage, and eventually a 25-18 set two victory. Punahou got to set-point after two Watamull aces and took the set on a KS-Hawaii serving error.

"Whenever we would get a good run, we would miss a serve," said coach Enriques. "Whenever we get a good pass, not so good on the location. We weren't consistent enough in the game. For us to be a team like Punahou, we have to have all six pistons firing."

The third set was the closest of the four as KS-Hawaii staved off elimination with a 27-25 win. Attack errors by Maa and Stanley gave the Warriors a couple of free points in the final stages of the third set.

"They just played a really good set," said Tune. "They served us really tough and our passing broke down a little bit. I think they just set a good game plan and we made a lot of errors."

With momentum swinging towards the Warriors heading into the fourth set, Maa went to work early to swing it back in Punahou's favor. The tourney's most outstanding player scored the first the team's first four points to open up the set.

"Down the stretch I just wanted to be there for my team," said Maa. "Just give them a little bit of confidence and help them out."

Like set two, Punahou slowly began to pull away from KS-Hawaii until the score was a six-point game, 15-9.

"We definitely didn't want to go to five sets with them because they are a team with so much heart," said Maa. "We wanted to try and stop them from any momentum that they could get so we just came out and tried to match their heart and see what we can do."

An attack error made it 15-10 before a KS-Hawaii error sent Yogi back to serve with the score at 16-10. This prompted a 7-0 run that gave Punahou a sizable 22-10 advantage.

"We blocked really well during this stretch and Kelsey's serve is really tough to handle," said Stanely. "It kept the other team's setter from having three options every time, so it was easier for us to block and we played great defense at the end."

The two teams traded the next six points before Maa's kill to the back left corner locked up the match for the Buffanblu.