A crowd of about 350 at the Buffanblu's Hemmeter Fieldhouse watched the Mustangs, ranked No. 1 in the nation by ESPN Rise, improve to 12-0 on the season. Punahou, ranked No. 5, fell to 15-2.

The Buffanblu upset then-No. 3-ranked Mira Costa in last year's Best of the West Invitational in Poway, Calif., en route to finishing ranked No. 1 by ESPN Rise.

But the Mustangs turned the tables last night by scoring the last five points of the first set, dominating the second and then holding off Punahou in the third.

"Punahou has such a tremendous tradition, we really enjoyed playing them last year," Mira Costa coach Mike Ninnis said. "It's good to gauge yourself against top competition like this -- we don't get this kind of opportunity too often."

The Buffanblu looked primed to seize their opportunity in the first set, leading 15-10 at one point and then 22-20 before the Mustangs ran off five straight points to steal the game behind a pair of kills each by DJ White and Tony Ensbury and a hitting error by Punahou.

"Youth -- we're a real young team and we're still learning how to close out sets and matches," Buffanblu coach Rick Tune said. "Mira Costa is a veteran team, and when they put pressure on you, you have to respond. I think the way the first set ended, it carried over into Set 2. We were reeling."

The Mustangs jumped out to leads of 6-2, 10-3, 17-4 behind a block that Punahou could not find a way through. A 5-2 run closed it to 20-10, but Mira Costa scored the next five points to take a quick 2-0 match lead.

"I think in the first set, we were freaking out a little bit and we just had to settle down," said White, a 6-foot-5 outside hitter who will attend Harvard in the fall. "Our passing got better and our middles stepped up and were blocking like crazy."

Punahou trailed just 12-10 in the third set before the Mustangs ran off six straight points to make it 18-10. They got it to 21-14, but a 7-1 run by the Buffanblu capped by Griffin Bolan's kill closed it to 22-21.