Punahou's Tui Tuileta goes up for a kill attempt against Kamehameha-Hawaii. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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Punahou's Micah Ma'a makes a diving save on match point against Kamehameha-Hawaii. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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Punahou's Kupono Fey goes up for a kill attempt against Kamehameha-Hawaii. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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The sequel failed to live up to the original.

Larry Tuileta put down 12 kills to lead Punahou to a sweep of Kamehameha-Hawaii Thursday night in a quarterfinal game of the New City Nissan/Hawaii High School Athletic Association Division I Boys Volleyball State Championships. The game was a rematch of last year's state championship final, which the Buffanblu won in five sets.

“It was not easy,” Punahou coach Rick Tune said. “The score was not reflective of how difficult the match was."

A crowd of about 300 spectators at McKinley's Student Council Gymnasium saw Punahou improve to 16-2 and advance to meet Kaiser in a 5 p.m. semifinal Friday. The Warriors lost their second match in their last three tries to fall to 14-2.

Tuileta, a 6-foot-3, junior outside hitter, also registered six digs and sophomore setter Micah Ma'a dished out 21 assists and two aces.

“We didn't think it was going to be that easy, but they're a very scrappy team and scrappy teams are always hard to beat and all their hitters were giving us trouble,” said Tuileta, who recently announced he would sign with the University of Hawaii to play both football and volleyball.

Kamehameha-Hawaii standout Evan Enriques, who had 42 kills in last year's state championship match, was held in check for 16 kills this time around.

“I think most of that had to do with Evan being less than 100 percent,” Tune said. “I don't think we blocked very well tonight at all and we certainly didn't dig around the block that well either, so I mean we did what we needed to do, but we need to much, much better if we want to keep moving on against Kaiser (Friday).”

Enriques has been dealing with a broken wrist suffered during a preseason tournament on Oahu earlier this year. Despite that, he put away a match-high 30 kills in his team's first-round sweep of Kalaheo Wednesday.

“That team defines the words grit and resiliency, honestly, they are the most gritty, scrappy, reslient team and they're banged up, they're not all healthy – Evan is not 100 percent by any stretch of the imagination and he would never admit that – they're just a class act. That team is a class act,” Tune said of the Warriors.

The Buffanblu separated early in the opening game, forcing a Kamehameha-Hawaii timeout with a 11-6 lead. Punahou extended its lead to 21-13 by the Warriors' second timeout and closed out the game on a 10-2 run to win it 25-14.

Game two was a back-and-forth affair with 16 ties and seven lead changes. The Buffanblu took the lead for good at 20-19 following a Warrior serving error. Punahou stretched its lead to 24-20 following a block by Daniel Andrews and Ma'a on Enriques. Andrews, a 6-foot-8 middle blocker, finished with a match-high six blocks.

Kamehameha-Hawaii pulled to within 24-22 on a Punahou hitting error, but Andrews stuffed Enriques on game point to close out game two for Punahou.

“After the first set both teams kind of had a slow start (to game two), but it just shows what we put in at practice and when we focus that's what can happen,” said Tuileta, who had 20 kills and 10 digs in the win over Kamehameha-Hawaii last year.

Punahou jumped out to a 4-1 lead in game three, but Kamehameha-Hawaii battled back to tie it at 8-apiece. The Buffanblu, however, answered with a 8-4 run to seize a 16-12 advantage. A 4-0 Punahou run later in game three extended its lead to 21-15.

With his team leading 24-19 late, Ma'a made a spectacular save on a ball to set-up the game-winning point. Ma'a extended his right arm near the Punahou bench to keep the play alive, before going up and over several chairs courtside, knocking over a pair of seats in the process.

After the match, Tune appeared to counsel Ma'a on the potentially dangerous play.

“I'm only concerned if he gets hurt. I mean, you can't tell a kid not to go hard, that's so instinctual for him, he always goes hard, and I would never tell him to go less than 100 percent,” Tune said.

Tune, however, cautioned that a better effort will be required against Kaiser Friday.

“We need to hit our serves more consistently, we need to earn some points off of the block, transition more consistently,” Tune said. “We need to better.”

Kamehameha-Hawaii will play Maui Interscholastic League titlist and No. 4 seed Baldwin in a 5 p.m. consolation match at Waipahu Friday.