It may have been a vacation in paradise of sorts for Mira Costa, but on the court definitely it was all business.

The Mustangs, ranked number four in the latest Powerade Fab 50 rankings took down the second-ranked Buffanblu in a highly competitive and intensity filled four sets, 25-19, 15-25, 25-14, 25-17.

"There's a lot of distractions with the beach and stuff... but we have to remember we're here to play volleyball." said Mira Costa outside hitter Riley Mallon.

For much of set one, Punahou and Mira Costa played nearly even, but the Mustangs slowly extended the lead over the Buffanblu as the set progressed, getting to 22-18 on a Scott Stephanoff kill, and would take the opening game on a Mallon spike.

Punahou would start to turn things around in the second set, capitalizing on a pair of Mira Costa miscues to assume the lead at 10-9. Then, tied at 14-all, the Buffanblu would turn to Tui Tuileta.

The sophomore outside hitter, who had already put down seven kills in the first set, would hammer down three straight points to give Punahou a 17-14 advantage, one that the Buffs would not relinquish down the stretch, winning rather easily in game two, 25-15.

"We got a little sloppy in that second game... Punahou was digging us off the court. But our guys kept their heads in the game and kept swinging." said Mira Costa head coach Mike Ninnis.

A swing in momentum would go Mira Costa's way in set three, as the Mustangs would jump out to an early 7-2 lead and build the margin to as large as 20-9, benefiting from more than a handful of hitting and service missteps by the Buffanblu en route to a 25-14 win in the third set.

In set four, it would be Mallon who would come up large for the Mustangs, starting with a resounding block solo to give Mira Costa a 4-2 lead early.

"I wanted to come out with fire (in set four)...to put them (Punahou) on their heels." said Mallon, who would add a kill to end a long rally at 7-4 and another spike at 12-9.

Punahou would not be able to find a way claw back into the game, and with the Mira Costa lead at 21-17 late in the fourth, Mallon would bookend a Stephanoff spike with a his fifth kill and a second block of the set to push the lead to 24-17, and Mira Costa would end it on the next point with a double-block by Stephanoff and Karl Acres.

Mallon would finish the night with 12 kills and 3 blocks.

"He (Mallon) had a real strong game, hitting outside... he had a slow rnstart, and just improved as the match went on. We talked about his rnblocking, and he made some adjustments and came up with a couple of big rnblocks." added Ninnis.

But even in defeat, the standout of the night was clearly Tuileta, who went for a match-high 22 kills and an ace.

"Tui really carried us tonight, we probably ran him a lot more than we'd like to." said Punahou head coach Rick Tune.

Tuileta added, "This is another one (game) under our belts, just learn and move on, learn from our mistakes and fix it in practice. (We) gotta back out there and next game, put it away."

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