One night, it’s a sweep of Kamehameha. The next night, it’s losing in three straight sets to visiting Corona Del Mar.

Such is the plight of Punahou, the top-ranked boys volleyball team in Hawaii. The Sea Kings of Newport Beach, Calif., rolled to a 25-20, 25-21, 25-22 victory over the Buffanblu at Hemmeter Fieldhouse on Friday night in the Clash of the Titans tournament.

Corona Del Mar’s attack flowed most of the night, and the Sea Kings got a big assist from 15 Punahou service errors — seven in the first set, three in the second and five in the third. At times, the serving mistakes came at pivotal points.

“Serving is just one of those things that comes and goes,” Buffanblu coach Rick Tune said. “You have to get comfortable and in a rhythm, but so many guys were off their serving game. It was one of our huge points of emphasis coming in. We knew we had to win the serve-pass battle. We passed better (than Thursday’s win over Kamehameha), but didn’t serve better.”

Matt Ctvrtlik, the Corona Del Mar setter who dished 26 assists, emphasized the team’s passing while summing up the reasons for the win.

“As a setter, good passing makes you look a lot better and the hitters look good, too,” he said. “Passing was on point today and definitely a lot better than last night (a five-set loss to Mira Costa of Manhattan Beach, Calif., at Punahou). And our hitters can put the ball away. I can give it to almost anybody and just execute the game plan the coaches talk about.”

Sam Kobrine swung away for 10 kills for the Sea Kings and Brandon Browning added eight.

“They played a great match,” Punahou’s Tune said. “Much better than yesterday. Their outside pin attackers were money tonight and (Ctvrtlik) did a great job getting it to them at the right time.”

After a 6-6 tie, the Buffanblu trailed the rest of the first set, getting as close as 23-20, but Corona Del Mar went ahead 1-0 on Clay Dickinson’s kill and a Punahou hitting error.

In the second set, once again the Buffanblu stayed close and got it to 23-20 and 24-21 before Kobrine made it 2-0 with a kill.

‘Akahi Troske gave Punahou a spark in the third set with five kills from the middle on three sets from D.J. McInerny (18 assists total) and two by Todd Gruebner (11 assists) and the Buffanblu were still in it at 20-all before the Sea Kings closed the match with two kills from Mitch Haly and a block and a kill from Browning.

Troske finished with nine kills. Teammate Wil Stanley added eight and Ryan Wilcox and Kana‘i Akana worked for six each.

“I think (the loss) is just that we’re not used to that level of competition,” Troske said. “Here, we don’t play as high a level of teams, so when they (the Sea Kings) get in trouble or we get up, they know how to rally back really easy. That’s something we’re still working on as a team. It’s a mental thing, with this being a big game, and not something we can’t fix.”

Corona Del Mar coach Steve Conti was really happy to see his team improve a bunch over Thursday’s loss.

“Our outside hitters came to play,” he said. “In the loss (Thursday), the middles kept us in while our outsides struggled. It’s all about short-term memory. Brandon and Sam came to play tonight.”

Mira Costa 3, Kamehameha-Hawaii 1

Led by Jackson Wedbush’s 15 kills, the visiting Mustangs from Manhattan Beach, Calif., topped the Warriors from the Big Island 25-22, 17-25, 25-19, 25-17 in the first match of the Clash of the Titans at Punahou’s Hemmeter Fieldhouse.

Setter Rob Mullahey set the tone early and kept Mira Costa’s unyielding attack flowing in all four sets. He finished with 42 assists.

The Mustangs took control of the match in the third set, when Kamehameha-Hawaii made four straight mistakes to turn a one-point deficit into an 8-3 hole. The span was critical because Mira Costa stayed in front for the six-point set win and the pivotal 2-1 lead in the match.

Wedbush unloaded seven kills in the final set to finish off the fifth-ranked team in Hawaii.

Roy McFarland (11 kills) and Sam Jones (10 digs) also played big roles in the Mustangs’ win.

Isaiah Laeha, with help from the smooth setting of Addison Enriques, delivered 14 kills for the Warriors, and Kameron Moses came up with nine kills.