Any questions about how the defending state champion Punahou School boys volleyball team would stack up against top competition this year were answered in the past six days.

The visiting Buffanblu sliced through Kamehameha 25-18, 25-20 last night at Kekuhaupi'o Fieldhouse to stay undefeated in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu at 6-0. The defending state runner-up Warriors fell to 5-1.

Punahou already defeated two other ILH contenders, Maryknoll on Thursday and Iolani on Friday, before sweeping Kamehameha last night. All three matches were on the road.

"Those are three of the top teams in the state," said Buffanblu junior Spencer McLachlin, who finished with eight kills and six blocks last night despite fighting flu symptoms all day. "It was important for us to get through that (stretch)."

Punahou has two more matches in the ILH first round — at Damien tomorrow and at Saint Louis on Saturday.

But as they showed last night, it will be tough for anyone to topple the Buffanblu.

"Individually they're tough, and as a team they're well-coached and have a lot of offseason experience," Kamehameha coach Pono Ma'a said. "I think that experience is what really helps them."

Using a balanced attack, Punahou built leads of 17-9, 21-12 and 22-13 in the first game to deny the Warriors. In the second game, Kamehameha stayed closer and trailed 17-16, but the Buffanblu finished strong helped by Riley McKibbin's kill and block, a block by Keali'i Frank and McLachlin's kill.

Will Ehrman led Punahou with nine kills, Frank had seven kills and six blocks, Matt Brown had five kills and seven blocks and McKibbin contributed six blocks.

"Offensively, we like to spread it out," Buffanblu coach Peter Balding said. "The more guys we have involved, the tougher we are to defend."

Their size helps, too. Frank and McLachlin each stands 6 feet 6, Brown is 6-3 and McKibbin is 6-2.

"The longer the match goes, the more height is an advantage because you don't have to jump as much," Balding said.

But Ma'a said he was more concerned with his own players than Punahou's.

"They're big, but we can't control that," Ma'a said. "Our passing breakdowns are what really killed us. If you pass well, you can have opportunities, but when you're not passing, that's when their size becomes a big factor.

"We're a young team experience-wise and we had a lot of unforced errors. I've got to clean that up — that's my job."

The Warriors' passing was hurt by the absence of starting libero Jacob Jenkins, who did not suit up because of a back injury. Kinohi Warrington led them with 13 kills.

Reach Wes Nakama at wnakama@honoluluadvertiser.com.