When they’re this good, the Punahou Buffanblu are untouchable.

The top-ranked team in the Star-Advertiser Boys Volleyball Top 10 got 10 kills from Larry Tuileta in a 25-19, 25-20 win over No. 3 Kamehameha on Tuesday night before about 150 fans at Kekuhaupio Gymnasium.

The Buffanblu improved to 4-0 in ILH play, sending Kamehameha into second place at 3-1. Coach Kainoa Downing’s Warriors were tough for stretches defensively, but didn’t sustain often against Punahou’s ball-control game.

Punahou had a somewhat sloppy first set and a much cleaner second stanza, but still overwhelmed the talented Warriors. Balance offensively makes the Buffanblu extremely difficult to gauge, even with Kamehameha’s tough back row defense. Setter Wil Stanley delivered 18 assists, spreading the wealth to Tuileta, Micah Ma’a (seven kills), Noah Hayashida (five) and Trent Thompson (four).

"Noah’s a great athlete. He can move and he’s got a lot of experience," Tuileta said. "He plays a lot of club ball and has played against a lot of great players, so he brings that to the court. He’s a beast."

The distribution plan was difficult to match up with, but Punahou’s array of setters made precision another strength. Besides Stanley, former setter Ma’a and Hayashida dished out sets for kills, as did backup Todd Gruebner and even libero Kelsey Yogi.

What Punahou lacks in gigantic height — which had been more of the norm in recent years — it makes up for with versatility.

"After the first set, we knew they would come out with a lot of fire. We had to clean up bad passes, not giving them free balls, just cleaning up things on our side of the net," Tuileta said.

Defensively, ‘Akahi Troske, Tuileta and Hayashida led a clever block. By the second set, they consistently had double teams up on Kamehameha’s Kaehu Kaaa.

"We prepared for their libero (Mike Horita), he’s very good, and Kaehu. He’s their biggest threat," Hayashida said. "We took a very sharp angle on him, just like last year against Cullen Mosher."

Coach Rick Tune’s squad was almost impeccable defensively, limiting Kaaa to seven kills (.269). Kahiau Machado and David Kaaa added four kills apiece. Setter Elijah Hew Len had 13 assists.

As a team, the Warriors hit .267 and had eight service errors without an ace. Punahou hit an efficient .491 with just one hitting error. The Buffanblu had one ace and eight service errors.

Hayashida, a 6-foot senior, was especially effective. Normally an outside hitter in club play, he gave Punahou a big change of pace in the middle with four of his five kills in the second set. He also had four assists and a block.