Punahou's Will Stanley sets a ball for a teammate against Mira Costa. Evan Asato | SL

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Punahou's Larry Tuileta and Mira Costa's Trevor Liu battle at the net. Evan Asato | SL

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Mira Costa's Blake Markland attempts to put a swing past the Punahou block. Evan Asato | SL

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Punahou players celebrate after a five-set win over Mira Costa. Evan Asato | SL

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Punahou outlasted Mira Costa from Huntington Beach, CA in five sets, 23-25, 25-21, 18-25, 25-13, 15-4 on the final night of the Clash of the Titans Volleyball Tournament at Hemmeter Fieldhouse on Saturday night. The Buffanblu trailed two sets to one, but won the next two sets to win the match. 

“Every team has to learn lessons, like life lessons and team lessons along the way and these guys have been successful outside with different groups of guys. The blend of guys of who is going to lead and who’s going to be relied on for what and what situation, we were still developing that identity. Like I told our guys in our huddle, we had never been tested and responded the right way and we did that tonight,” said Punahou coach Rick Tune. 

Larry “Tui” Tuileta had 14 kills, Micah Ma’a had 12 kills, Trent Thompson and Daniel Andrews had nine kills each to lead the way for the Buffanblu. 

“It’s unbelievable, giving us an opportunity to play the best. We came out a little slow and when we lost two out of three, I wanted to let the boys know that’s not how I wanted to continue the season and tried my hardest and tried to get them to play with me,” said Ma’a, a junior outside hitter.  

“He has a different gear, he and Tui have different gears and other guys on our roster. Micah has been in those big moments before and he embraces those moments and I think he showed the other guys on how to behave in those moments, you’re not shying away from it, you’re fully accepting it and letting it in a being present in the moment,” said Tune, on Micah Ma’a. 

Punahou’s victory overshadowed a great performance by Mira Costa’s 6-foot-5 junior outside hitter Blake Markland who had 16 kills for the game. 6-foot-6 senior Connor Inlow also added 13 kills for the Mustangs. 

The largest lead of the set was 3 points as the game went back and forth. Punahou took a 19-17 lead after a Tuileta kill and the Mustangs called timeout. However, Mira Costa rallied and cut the deficit to 1, 23-22 after Roy McFarland’s kill and Punahou called a timeout to talk things over. After the timeout, Chris Caskey had a kill to tie the set at 23.Mira Costa took a 24-23 lead after a Punahou net violation and the Mustangs won the first set, 25-23 after a kill from Carter Kimble. 

In the second set, Noah Hayashida went down after he sprained his ankle and Akahi Troske came in as a substitute. Punahou took its largest lead, 17-10 after a kill from Trent Thompson. However, Mira Costa went on a 4-0 run to make it 23-19 and the Buffanblu took a timeout. Following the timeout, Roy McFarland’s service ace made it, 23-20. Tuileta had a kill to make it, 24-20 and the Buffanblu took the second set, 25-21 after a Mustangs’ net violation. 

“I thought Akahi Troske stepped up quite a bit because Noah Hayashida goes down with an ankle injury in set two and Kahi has to come in and it’s not easy especially when we’re down and playing a really good team like this. For Kahi to do that is huge. I think our setters stepped up down the stretch, they struggled in the beginning, but they stepped up down the stretch and made some good decisions and exploited the match ups that we had and put up high percentage sets. I don’t think we win this match unless as a team we step up, our bench stepped up by celebrating plays for the guys on the court, you cannot win a match like this if you don’t have 15 guys,” said Tune. 

“We have a lot of young guys on the team and getting them experience with crunch time situations, especially later in the season and play better overall when it comes to crunch time. What helps them is to have a lot of energy from the older guys to lead them throughout the match and today I think not only me, but a lot of the seniors overall and the coaches just helped a lot to play the volleyball we’re used to playing,” said Tuileta, on a squad that has seven sophomores. 

In the third set, it went back and forth, however, the Mustangs began to separate from the Buffablu.  Setter Trevor Liu had a block to ignite the team as they went on a 5-0 run to make it 18-12. Punahou managed to cut the deficit to 4, 21-17 after the Mustangs hit it out of bounds. Mira Costa went on a 4-1 run and took the third set, 25-18. 

In the fourth set, Punahou jumped out to a 7-2 lead and Mira Costa called a timeout. The Buffanblu went on a 4-1 run to make it 11-3 aided by a service ace from Todd Gruebner. Punahou pushed their lead to 10 after Kelsey Yogi’s service ace to make it, 15-5. The Mustangs started to comeback and cut the deficit to six, 18-12 after Matt Jones’ service ace and Punahou called a timeout. Punahou responded with a 7-1 run to close out the set, 25-13. 

The momentum Punahou gained from the fourth set seemed to carry over to the fifth set as they went on an 8-2 start and Mira Costa called a timeout. Daniel Andrews had a kill to extend the lead to 12-3 and Justin Kam had a kill to make it 14-4. Punahou won the fifth set and the match, 15-4 after the Mustangs hit it out of bounds. 

“That’s a huge word for us, resiliency,” said Tune. “That’s one of our mantras we want to preach. But until tonight, they might’ve known the word and what it meant, but didn’t know how to do it. That’s what I mean by life lessons, everyone of these guys as a group and a team have to learn these lessons on the court. Sometimes it’s hard and painful like last night, I think you saw a team grow quite a bit in the past two days, that’s what you want and we want to be growing and building towards our ultimate goal.”  

“All year long, coach has been preaching to us about resiliency. We really haven’t shown it until now, I can’t explain why, but I guess it was the right moment and the right time and we picked it up,” said Ma’a. 

“This is our first match when we made it to the very last set and just shows us how well we can respond and shows what kind of volleyball we can play,” added Tuileta.