To overcome a Herculean effort by underdog Kamehameha-Hawaii, Punahou needed to dig deep.

The top-seeded Buffanblu went to their bench in crunch time, getting timely plays from reserves Dylan Gerard and Griffin Bolan for a thrilling 23-25, 25-18, 22-25, 25-11, 15-13 victory over Kamehameha-Hawaii to capture the Division I title in the New City Nissan/HHSAA Boys Volleyball State Championships.

Gerard had 12 assists off the bench, two weeks after returning from an injury suffered early in the year.

"I just want to go in there and do what I can to help my team," he said. "I was definitely spreading things out more, getting the middle more involved. We needed a lot more energy."

It was pure drama for both teams, playing through injuries to their elite setters. Punahou’s Micah Ma‘a had 42 assists despite a bad wrist.

"Micah set a great game. It wasn’t about his wrist. It was about matchups and we needed a change of pace," coach Rick Tune said.

Larry "Tui" Tuileta persevered through a tough start and led Punahou (18-0) with 21 kills. Middle Nicholas Andrews added 16 kills, Sean Gruebner drilled 15 kills and Kupono Fey added seven kills and three aces. The Buffanblu serve was a factor with six aces (and 11 service errors) to KS-Hawaii’s zero aces.

Gruebner was key, particularly early on.

"Even with the hurt arm, Micah was still setting great," he said. "Dylan was great, too. If only he hadn’t hurt his wrist (during the regular season), we might’ve had a 6-2 (offense)."

A raucous Blaisdell Arena crowd of 1,706 saw third-seeded KS-Hawaii (18-1) push the nationally ranked Buffanblu to the brink. Sophomore Evan Enriques continued his superlative play, finishing with 42 kills in 114 swings, facing triple blocks often.

But in the end, it was an injury to Warriors setter Daniel Aina Jr. near the end of the third set that turned the momentum.

"I had to jump over one of my middles and I landed funny," said the senior, who finished with 35 assists.

The injury set KS-Hawaii off-balance, leading to mistakes with substitution and a few missed plays defensively.

"We struggled trying different people in the position," KS-Hawaii coach Guy Enriques said of the injury. "They did a good job making adjustments, but we were right there. Punahou did the things they needed to do to win it. They did the right things, so kudos to them."

With Aina out of the match — he returned briefly but sat most of the remainder — Punahou bounced back to win the fourth set easily. Gerard, a backup setter, gave his team some consistency while Ma‘a got some rest time with his injured left wrist. Bolan came through with a couple of kills and a block in that pivotal fourth set.

Punahou shifted Ma‘a (two aces) and Gerard in and out in the final three sets. The Buffanblu had a 13-11 lead in the final set, but Enriques came up with consecutive kills from the back row out of KS-Hawaii’s "big set" to tie it up.

Fey then came through with a clean kill from the right side, and Tuileta’s smash down the middle gave Punahou its 30th boys volleyball state title.

With Ma‘a slightly below his usual outstanding level of setting, the offense was erratic, but defensively Punahou was ready. Colin Peros had 30 digs and Tuileta had 10.

KS-Hawaii’s defense was a match; D.J. Grant-Johnson had a team-high 21 digs and Ryan Thomas had 19.