Punahou's Larry Tuileta had a match-high 19 kills against Kamehameha. Eugene Tanner | SL

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Punahou's Micah Ma'a puts up a set against Kamehameha. Eugene Tanner | SL

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Kamehameha's Nick Ng attempts to get a kill attempt past the Punahou block. Eugene Tanner | SL

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Punahou players celebrate after winning their second consecutive Division I state championship. Eugene Tanner | SL

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Punahou played its best match when it mattered the most and the result was a record 31st New City Nissan/Hawaii High School Athletic Association Division I Boys Volleyball State Championship Saturday.

The Buffanblu powered past the Kamehameha Warriors in four sets to capture its second consecutive state crown and fourth in the last five seasons. The scores were 25-19, 25-18, 21-25 and 25-17. A crowd of 1,764 at the Neal S. Blaisdell Center saw Punahou close out its season with an 18-2 record while Kamehameha fell to 17-4.

“It feels great, but take nothing away from Kamehameha,” said Buffanblu coach Rick Tune. “I really want to say that we got better because those guys pushed us and I hope they got better because we pushed them and that's a great opponent on the other side of the court.”

Larry Tuileta put down a match-high 19 kills with 12 digs and Kupono Fey added 14 kills with 17 digs, four aces and three blocks for Punahou, which hit .224 for the match.

“I think it was the most consistent match we played all season, especially defensively,” Tune said. “We were able to get a lot of digs and transitions and that's tough. I mean, when we're scoring real points like that, it's tough. It's tough to beat us if we pass and we side out well.”

Warriors' coach Kainoa Downing credited the Buffanblu, particularly for its defensive effort.

“They played their best match all year – they dug 90 percent of the balls, they just outplayed us,” Downing said. “They took it to us and they just did a great job. They just played a complete game – They served well, they passed well, they dug well, they blocked well. They played a perfect game and they played it at the right time. We just missed.”

Nick Ng had 14 kills and Cullen Mosher 12 kills with 17 digs for Kamehameha, which was held to a .120 hitting percentage.

The teams had faced off five previous times this season, with the Buffanblu winning three times, including the past two matches.

“They played their best match all year,” Downing said of Punahou. “Never did they show that anywhere along the line of the other five matches that we've played them and that's a credit to their program, a credit to their coaches and the biggest credit is to the kids. The kids have to do it on the court, you know, we can coach them and prepare them, but if the kids don't perform, we don't have anything. They just outplayed us.”

Fey, who was named to the All-Tournament team, said the difference was not a technical adjustment Punahou made, but rather, emotion.

“I think we just wanted it. We just played harder, we just passed the ball better. We just played better than we did everytime we played them,” Fey said. “We stepped up to the challenge, I think that was the main thing.”

Tuileta, who was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player, said defense fueled his team's title run.

“Defense wins games and that's what we did and focused on warming up before the match and that's what we did throughout this whole week coming into the state tournament and I think that transitioning and finishing those digs really separates the score,” Tuileta said.

Tune said he threw a variable into pregame today by spending a little more time on digging; a gamble that paid off.

“We knew we were going to have to dig some balls tonight,” Tune said. “We actually added that into our pregame over at Punahou before we came over here and it paid off. We talked a lot about what reads we had to make and what balls we had to absolutely dig and convert.

Punahou separated late in the opening set, using a 6-0 run to take a 24-17 lead. Kamehameha scored the next two points, but Daniel Andrews ended the set with a kill from him middle blocker position and Punahou won, 25-19.

Three straight kills by Tuileta gave Punahou an early 5-1 lead in game two, which it never relinquished. The Buffanblu benefitted from an official's error later in the set when they were whistled for a rotation violation. However, Tune argued the call with the down official and the point was replayed. Instead of a 19-17 lead, Punahou went ahead 20-16 following a Noah Hayashida kill. The Buffanblu scored the final four points of the set to win, 25-18.

However, the Warriors rallied in game three, overcoming an early 4-0 deficit to win 25-21.

“When it stopped was they didn't play as perfect in game (three) as they did in games one and two, so we stopped a little bit of their perfect playing, but we just couldn't get enough to win,” Downing said. They chipped away, they hung in there with us and we just didn't have enough.”

Punahou hit just .073 and committed nearly as many errors (seven) as kills (10).

The Buffanblu rebounded in game four, separating midway. A 5-0 Punahou run capped by back-to-back Tuileta kills gave it a 15-10 lead. Hayashida and Fey combined on a block later in the set to make the score 21-14 and Tuileta ended the match with a cross-court kill from the left side to make it 25-17.

“I think that this was the peak of both teams playing in the final and it just showed that the whole offseason and the onseason of all the hard work that everybody puts in and it showed today on the court,” Tuileta said. “I think today that's why it was different than all those five matches.”

Micah Maa had 28 assists, 13 digs and nine kills, Dylan Gerard added 17 assists and 11 digs and Scotty Peros had a team-high 19 digs for Punahou.

The Interscholastic League of Honolulu champion Buffanblu were the tournament's top seed and drew a first-round bye. They swept Kamehameha-Hawaii in a quarterfinal Thursday and Kaiser in a semifinal Friday.

Mike Horita had a match-high 21 digs, Kaehu Kaaa added 12 digs and seven kills and Puna Kaniho dished out 34 assists with nine digs for Kamehameha.

The ILH runner-up Warriors got to the final by beating McKinley in a first-round match Wednesday, before sweeping past Waiakea in a quarterfinal Friday and finally topping Moanalua in four sets in Friday's semifinal round.

New City Nissan Boys Volleyball State Championship Division I All-Tournament Team

Kupono Fey, Punahou

Tahiarri Caldwell, Moanalua

Cullen Mosher, Kamehameha

Evan Enriques, KS-Hawaii

Zarin Agustiro, Moanalua

Mason Ohta, Kaiser

Most Outstanding Player: Larry Tuileta, Punahou