Punahou's Tui Tuileta goes up for a spike attempt. Tuileta had a game-high 18 kills for the Buffanblu. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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Punahou puts up a triple block against the attack of Kaiser's Casey Bolda. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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Punahou's Tui Tuileta goes up for a spike attempt. Tuileta had a game-high 18 kills for the Buffanblu. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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Punahou puts up a triple block against the attack of Kaiser's Casey Bolda. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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The Punahou Buffanblu are one step closer to a record 31st state title in school history.

Led by an 18-kill effort by Larry Tuileta, Punahou easily handled Kaiser, 25-19, 25-19, 25-16 in a semifinal match of the New City Nissan/Hawaii High School Athletic Association Division I Boys Volleyball State Championships Friday.

The Buffanblu improved to 17-2 on the year to move into Saturday's 7 p.m. title game at Neal S. Blaisdell Center. A crowd of about 250 at McKinley's Student Council Gymnasium saw the Interscholastic League of Honolulu champions and tournament No. 1 seed cruise past the Oahu Interscholastic Association runner-up Cougars in just over an hour.

Tuileta, a junior outside hitter, also had seven digs, one ace and a block. Senior outside hitter Kupono Fey pitched in with seven kills, five digs, two aces and a block and sophomore setter Micah Ma'a distributed 14 assists.

“Right before the match, (Punahou) coach (Rick Tune) talked about playing a little more passionate than yesterday, playing with more energy and just having fun,” said Tuileta, who had a team-high 12 kills in a quarterfinal sweep of Kamehameha-Hawaii Thursday. “Sometimes we try to criticize ourselves a little too much going into the state tournament, like we have to be perfect, but I think today we wanted to just balance it out by just adjusting to our mistakes and having fun at the same time.”

The Buffanblu made runs of 4-0, 3-0 and 8-4 in game one to take it, 25-19. It was more of the same in game two, as Punahou led by as many as eight at one point.

“I think midway through set two, I think that's the kind of ball we've talked about playing – both sides of the ball,” said Tune, who will be looking to guide Punahou to its fourth state crown in five years under his leadership. “We were siding out at a real efficient rate and we were also converting some real point opportunities, so we want to put pressure on teams both ways and tonight, I think we did that about midway through set two.”

Punahou used a 7-3 run early in game three to run away with it. The Buffanblu won the set, 25-16, and the match, three games to none.

Tune said he hopes the consecutive sweeps will mean fresh legs for his squad going into the championship match.

“We don't want to play anymore than we have to, so we're fortunate enough to get out there and execute and we're stoked to be in the finals,” Tune said.

Casey Bolda had 11 kills, Mason Ohta 18 digs and Riker Kasamoto 15 assists to lead Kaiser, which fell to 14-4 on the season and will play in the 3 p.m. third-place final.