Micah Ma'a passes the ball to a teammate in a match against Kamehameha. Kristen Izumigawa | Special to SL

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Kaehu Kaaa attempts to block Punahou's Taylor Wiens' kill attempt. Kristen Izumigawa | Special to SL

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Larry Tuileta makes a kill attempt against Kamehameha. Tuileta had a match-high nine kills for Punahou. Kristen Izumigawa | Special to SL

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KAPALAMA HEIGHTS — A rematch of last year's state final ended up being a one-sided affair Tuesday night.

Larry Tuileta put down a match-high nine kills, Micah Maa added seven kills and Noah Hayashida five to help Punahou to a sweep of Kamehameha in an Interscholastic League of Honolulu first-round match at Kekuhaupio Gym. The scores were 25-19 and 25-20.

A crowd of about 175 was on hand as the Buffanblu (4-0) needed just 48 minutes to dispatch the Warriors (3-1).

"We showed plenty signs of rust and fatigue," said Punahou coach Rick Tune, whose team returned Sunday from a seventh-place showing at the elite Best of the West tournament in San Diego. "We weren't sharp, but we expected that it would be hard to get through this. Kamehameha is always a good team, always a quality opponent and they always fight and battle."

Despite winning in convincing fashion Tuesday, Tune expressed discontent with some of the sloppiness from his team.

"I think we had more nets than blocks, so I don't think our blocking game was terribly impressive tonight, but we have the chance to be a disciplined team," Tune said. "Blocking is one of those skills that takes a tremendous amount of focus and discipline and it's hard to have focus and discipline coming off that long road trip, but we did it just enough to get by tonight. We have to do better the next time we play this team, I guarantee that we'll have to be a lot better."

Other than the early parts of game two, the Buffanblu led throughout the match. Three consecutive kills by Tuileta early in the first game put Punahou ahead 7-4, but Kamehameha answered by scoring three straight to tie it up. However, the Buffanblu came back with a 5-1 run to take a 12-8 lead and closed out the game on a 8-4 run, capped by one of Maa's five kills in the set.

The Warriors never led by more than two points — their last lead coming at 13-12 in game two. A lift and double-contact violation against Kamehameha was sandwiched around a Justin Kam kill to put Punahou ahead, 15-13. Back-to-back errors against Punahou pulled Kamehameha within 19-17, but the Buffanblu scored four of the next five points to stretch their lead back to four and closed out the match on a Maa kill.

"We just had to grind it out, especially coming back from our trip. They came out with some jump serves, which really kind of threw us off. I think we just had to reframe to the next play and taking every play one play at a time really helped our mindset through the game."

Tuileta, who will play at Southern California next year, said he was proud of his team's ability to overcome adversity.

"We just got back from the Best of the West and our San Diego trip and it was our first game back, our first time at (Kekuhaupio) gym, so it's always hard, especially with such a supportive crowd for Kamehameha, but I think it was a good match for us to feel our way out," Tuileta said.

Kaehu Kaaa led the Warriors with seven kills. David Kaaa and Kahiau Machado added four kills apiece. Kamehameha visits Mid-Pacific Thursday while Punahou hosts Iolani.

Punahou, the two-time defending Division I state championship, beat Kamehameha in four sets in last year's state title match.