Anae Asuncion (6) and Alaina Valdez (9) celebrate after Erica Roberts (4) finished off Mililani's come-from-behind win over visiting Kapolei Monday night with her 14th kill of the match. Michael Lasquero | SL

Purchase image 1 of 48

Michael Lasquero | SL

Purchase image 2 of 48

Michael Lasquero | SL

Purchase image 3 of 48

Michael Lasquero | SL

Purchase image 4 of 48

Michael Lasquero | SL

Purchase image 5 of 48

Michael Lasquero | SL

Purchase image 6 of 48

Michael Lasquero | SL

Purchase image 7 of 48

Michael Lasquero | SL

Purchase image 8 of 48

Michael Lasquero | SL

Purchase image 9 of 48

Michael Lasquero | SL

Purchase image 10 of 48

Michael Lasquero | SL

Purchase image 11 of 48

Michael Lasquero | SL

Purchase image 12 of 48

Michael Lasquero | SL

Purchase image 13 of 48

Michael Lasquero | SL

Purchase image 14 of 48

Michael Lasquero | SL

Purchase image 15 of 48

Michael Lasquero | SL

Purchase image 16 of 48

Michael Lasquero | SL

Purchase image 17 of 48

Michael Lasquero | SL

Purchase image 18 of 48

Michael Lasquero | SL

Purchase image 19 of 48

Michael Lasquero | SL

Purchase image 20 of 48

Michael Lasquero | SL

Purchase image 21 of 48

Michael Lasquero | SL

Purchase image 22 of 48

Michael Lasquero | SL

Purchase image 23 of 48

Michael Lasquero | SL

Purchase image 24 of 48

Michael Lasquero | SL

Purchase image 25 of 48

Michael Lasquero | SL

Purchase image 26 of 48

Michael Lasquero | SL

Purchase image 27 of 48

Michael Lasquero | SL

Purchase image 28 of 48

Michael Lasquero | SL

Purchase image 29 of 48

Michael Lasquero | SL

Purchase image 30 of 48

Michael Lasquero | SL

Purchase image 31 of 48

Michael Lasquero | SL

Purchase image 32 of 48

Michael Lasquero | SL

Purchase image 33 of 48

Michael Lasquero | SL

Purchase image 34 of 48

Michael Lasquero | SL

Purchase image 35 of 48

Michael Lasquero | SL

Purchase image 36 of 48

Michael Lasquero | SL

Purchase image 37 of 48

Michael Lasquero | SL

Purchase image 38 of 48

Michael Lasquero | SL

Purchase image 39 of 48

Michael Lasquero | SL

Purchase image 40 of 48

Michael Lasquero | SL

Purchase image 41 of 48

Michael Lasquero | SL

Purchase image 42 of 48

Michael Lasquero | SL

Purchase image 43 of 48

Michael Lasquero | SL

Purchase image 44 of 48

Michael Lasquero | SL

Purchase image 45 of 48

Michael Lasquero | SL

Purchase image 46 of 48

Michael Lasquero | SL

Purchase image 47 of 48

Michael Lasquero | SL

Purchase image 48 of 48

MILILANI — A matchup of the top two teams in the Oahu Interscholastic Association's Western Division brought out the best of Alexis Rodriguez Monday night. 

Rodriguez put down 19 kills and came up with 14 digs to help No. 5 Mililani rally to a thrilling five-set win over No. 10 Kapolei. The set scores were 18-25, 18-25, 25-21, 27-26 and 15-13. 

The Trojans improved to 6-0 to remain in sole possession of first place in the OIA Division I West standings, while the Hurricanes fell to 4-1. 

Rodriguez, a senior outside hitter and the reigning OIA West Player of the Year, took 53 total swings to lead all players. She hit .170 for the match and also tallied 1 1/2 of her team's five total blocks. 

"She was really good," Mililani coach Val Crabbe said of Rodriguez. "It's obvious that we need her in the big games, but I also don't want to burn her out because she has a future in college and the upcoming club season, so we watch that but it's hard for her because she can't hold back."

Rodriguez certainly didn't hold back against the Hurricanes. She led the Trojans in both kills and digs in just her second match back from a shoulder impingement. 

"Nothing major," she said of the injury. "I'm back, yeah."

Kapolei had not dropped a set all season entering the match and took the first two sets Monday night. However, the Trojans staved off their first loss of the year by taking the next two sets. 

"After the second set I knew that we weren't playing to lose," Rodriguez said. "We wanted to win, so we just changed up our mindset and instead of making our mistakes, we just switched it up. Not every hit was going down, but we tired them out."

Mililani held a 21-16 lead in the fourth set before Kapolei stormed back with a 7-1 run that was fueled by Malinah Purcell-Telefoni. The University of Hawaii-bound outside hitter put down five kills and teamed with Anny Scott for a double-block during the run, which put her team ahead, 23-22. There were ties at 24, 25 and 26, before a Kapolei service error ended the set, which was capped at 27. 

Hurricanes coach Naidah Gamurot pointed to her team's 22 service errors as being a key factor in the end result of the match. 

"The unforced errors just kind of did us in. That kind of killed our momentum and we did that to ourselves — the serving mistakes, some bad technique on some of the blocks — just those things and we can go back and those are all fixable, but we missed way too many serves and that shouldn't happen," Gamurot said. 

Mililani carried its momentum over into the fifth set, when it jumped out to a 7-2 lead. However, Kapolei eventually tied it at 8 with a 6-1 run that included four kills from Leila Paraoan. 

The score was 12-11 in favor of the Trojans when Erica Roberts put away a kill from the left side off an assist from Anae Asuncion. A double-contact violation against the ‘Canes gave Mililani a 14-11 lead. Purcell-Telefoni slammed down a kill on the very next play and then a rotation violation on the Trojans pulled Kapolei to within 14-13, but Roberts found the court with her seam shot on match point to close it out. 

"They're a really good team and I knew that we had to be smart with our shots," Rodriguez said. 

The Trojans improved both their defense at the net and on the floor as the match played out. After going without a single team block in the first two sets, they finished with five. 

"Definitely communication and being able to trust each other was key to improving our defense. We saw what our mistake was, which was definitely our block, so we just communicated with our front row and we fixed our mistakes and have trust in other another and just played to win," Rodriguez said. "This is a team, it's not an individual, so we all have that same mindset."

Mililani had 12 attack errors after two sets; It finished with 23 total attack errors. Conversely, Kapolei racked up 15 of its 18 total attack errors in the final three sets. 

The Trojans surrendered six aces in the first two sets and just one the rest of the way. 

"I think what's helped us in the past is the conditioning and mentally and physically being able to prepare for the five sets because that was two and a half hours," Crabbe said. 

Gamurot's squad hit .429 and .423 in sets 1 and 2, respectively, but leveled off to hit .207 the rest of the way, including just .091 in the deciding fifth set. 

"I think we just eased up a little bit. We had the intensity the first two (sets) and then we just kind of took a little dive and I didn't think we would stay down that long — I thought we would come back up — but we didn't," Gamurot said. 

It was the first meeting between the teams since they faced off in the preseason Hawaii Volleyball Invitational at Kamehameha back in August. 

"We kind of knew what they had, but they made a lot of adjustments and look way different now," Crabbe said. 

Purcell-Telefoni finished with a match-high 22 kills. She took 33 swings and did not commit an error for a .667 hitting percentage. Leila Paraoan added 17 kills and Matilyn Royal added 13 kills. Danbury Kealoha-Bates posted 21 digs, Aphelia Tuaopepe tallied nine and Scott, a freshman setter, tallied 55 assists and nine digs in the loss. 

Roberts had 14 kills and seven digs and Asuncion racked up 43 assists, 11 digs and eight kills. Alaina Valdez contributed 13 digs and Tehanni Tafisi 11 for the Trojans. 

Both teams return to the court Wednesday. Mililani will host Leilehua, while Kapolei will host Radford.