It’s the mental game that sometimes is the toughest to play.

No. 2 Kamehameha was two points away from forcing Set 4 against No. 1 Punahou on Thursday night at Kekuhaupi‘o Gym. The defending state champion Warriors had a 24-22 lead coming out of a Buffanblu timeout and a strong server in Kaehu Kaaa on the backline in the third meeting this season of the Interscholastic League of Honolulu boys volleyball giants.

It was not enough for Kamehameha, as Punahou (12-0) rallied behind Larry Tuileta’s final three kills to complete a 25-13, 25-21, 29-27 sweep of the Warriors (8-3).

"They’re just a great team," Kamehameha coach Kainoa Downing said of his ILH rival. "They’ve got talent. They’ve got (freshman setter) Micah Ma‘a and Tui (Tuileta), who’ve been playing a long time.

"Their passing was more solid and we passed not so good. The interesting thing about sports is it’s all between the ears. The key is not making the little mistakes at the key times."

And pushing back when needed.

Kamehameha appeared to take control of Set 3 by pulling away at 21-18. The Warriors kept the two-point margin they needed down the stretch, the last coming on a kill from Kamu Grugier-Hill that set up set point.

Ma‘a won a joust with Kamehameha’s Puna Kaniho to close within one. With Ma‘a on the bench for a planned blocking sub, the Buffanblu tied it when Keenan Fujitani set Tuileta on the left.

The Warriors were able to hold off three match points but not a fourth. Grugier-Hill hit long to end it after 68 minutes.

"We have had problems closing it out after reaching 20 (points)," Punahou libero Colin Peros said. "It was a good challenge for us tonight. It was a tough one."

Both liberos played exceptionally well, with Peros and Kamehameha’s Michael Horita coming up with big plays. Peros made his mark in Set 1 with a 5-0 serving run that helped Punahou to a 20-9 lead.

Set 2 was tight, with six ties, the last at 12. The Buffanblu gained separation at 16-12 behind Tuileta’s 3-0 serving spurt that included an ace.

The Warriors capitalized on two Buffanblu hitting errors to pull to within 19-17 and used two kills by Grugier-Hill to narrow it to 22-21.

Punahou came out of a timeout to finish it on a kill by Tuileta, a Kamehameha hitting error and a block by Sean Gruebner and Nicholas Andrews.

"It was a good win for us," Buffanblu coach Rick Tune said. "So much of it has to do with our mentality. If we came in thinking we’ve got this, that we’ve beaten them before, we’d be in trouble. They (the Warriors) are too good of a team.

"We still have work to do. The next couple of days we’re going to work on paying attention to details, not take plays off and execute every single time. Going into the state tournament you don’t want to be overlooking the details. You want to have it all together by then."

Tuileta finished with a match-high 19 kills, with Gruebner and Pono Fey adding eight each.

Cullen Mosher led Kamehameha with 13 kills and Grugier-Hill added 12.