HONOLULU — They were denied a season in 2020. A title, in their view, was taken away in 2022, too.
The Mililani Trojans, led by a group of 10 seniors seeking to make the most of their last opportunity, finally made good on their promise with an Oahu Interscholastic Association girls volleyball championship sweep of Moanalua at McKinley’s sweltering gym on Wednesday night.
It was the fifth OIA title for Mililani, all since 2011 under coach Val Crabbe.
After an excruciating loss to Kahuku in the 2022 OIA final — the Trojans failed to convert on three match points in the fourth and lost in five — Mililani left no doubt this time against another traditional OIA power.
“It was a rough finish last year when we lost to Kahuku because we were (right) there. But they really wanted it,” said Crabbe, who credited the backups who helped get the starters ready for Moanalua in team practice. “It was amazing to see. … I was really happy for them, the seniors. They have a lot of heart.”
Mililani (13-0) was subsequently named the No. 3 seed in next week’s 12-team New City Nissan/HHSAA Division I state tournament. The Trojans will face winner of Punahou and Kahuku in Monday’s first round at Hemmeter Fieldhouse.
ILH champion Kamehameha earned the No. 1 seed, BIIF champ Kamehameha-Hawaii is No. 2 and Baldwin of the MIL is No. 4. After semifinals at Moanalua and McKinley on Nov. 8 and 9, the championship will be held at BYU-Hawaii’s Cannon Activities Center on Nov. 10.
The Trojans’ pinpoint service game Wednesday was backed up by superior passing and their big guns, Alexis Rodriguez and Erica Roberts, took swings of opportunity throughout the 25-17, 25-17, 25-22 decision. Roberts put down 13 kills and Rodriguez had 12 and three of her team’s seven aces.
“It’s just amazing having those two hitters because they’re just like my rods and I mean, I love them forever,” said setter Anae Asuncion, who had 29 assists and an ace.
Mililani’s core of Rodriguez, Roberts and setter Asuncion came into the program as sophomores because their freshman athletics year was lost to the COVID-19 threat.
They endured the finals heartbreak together last fall, too, with an outcome Asuncion said was “stolen” from them.
Mililani was in control for the first two sets but had to come back from a few points down in the third to finish the job. Letting the match linger was part of its problem in 2022.
“Since there’s so many seniors, we can all leave knowing we did some damage in this program,” Roberts said. “Last season, we didn’t get it, but this year we did, so it feels great.”
Rodriguez, Roberts’ “partner in crime,” was at the fore of the Trojans’ devastating service game.
Rodriguez, who is bound for Oregon State, acknowledged serve-and-pass was an emphasis of practice since Monday’s sweep of Roosevelt in the semifinals.
“Definitely focusing on the weakest passer, seeing where they’re facing is something we had to work on,” Rodriguez said. “In practice, we went over their lineup and I think we did a great job executing on our serves.”
Previously unbeaten Moanalua (12-1) got 12 kills from Iowa-bound star Malu Garcia and six from Zaria Queen, but its options were slim otherwise. Garcia hit long from the left pin on Mililani's first match point.
Na Menehune coach Alan Cabanting credited Mililani for “serving us off the court.” Na Menehune were denied their sixth overall title, the last of which came in 2017.
“They knew exactly what we were doing and we just couldn’t get ourselves out of the water,” Cabanting said.
He said he would go back and show his team what it did well on serve and pass its best wins of the year, including a five-set win over Kapolei on Monday, to act as a palette-cleanser.
"The Set 1 loss and the miscommunication that occurred really did some crazy things to our team chemistry, that kind of lingered and lasted," Cabanting said.
Moanalua faces the OIA’s sixth-place team, Kalani, at Na Menehune’s gym on Monday for the right to face Kamehameha two days later.
Note: See below for more Mililani/Moanalua photos.
The Waialua Bulldogs went from a lack of remarkable history in girls volleyball to earning a rare distinction in the sport in just over a year.
The small school from the North Shore became just the second program to repeat as an OIA Division II girls volleyball champion with its 25-21, 25-18, 18-25, 19-25, 18-16 win over Waipahu at McKinley on Wednesday night.
Before 2022, Waialua (9-3) had no volleyball titles at any level.
“It’s big for our community,” coach Melvin Medrano told Spectrum News. “Waialua’s always small. I gave a speech before the game, ‘no one will give us respect because we’re small school and we’re in Waialua.’ I told the girls, ‘play your game, and just because we are Waialua, take whatever they give us and turn it into a positive.’”
After appearing on the cusp of sweeping the Marauders (5-8), the Bulldogs dropped Sets 3 and 4 and had to sweat it out in the fifth, just as it did in the regular-season match between the teams.
After being turned back on four championship points, Waialua finally ended it on consecutive kills by Kailia Phillips.
Phillips tallied 20 kills and 11 digs to earn Spectrum OC16 Impact Player honors for the second straight OIA D-II title match.
“No way we were letting that slip again,” Phillips said. “We had more spirit. That’s it. It was a great, awesome game.”
Kanoe Santiago supplied 22 kills and 23 digs for Waialua.
Waialua was named the No. 2 seed in the HHSAA Division II tournament, which begins Tuesday at Kalani and Kaimuki.
Brian McInnis covers the state's sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.