Mililani outlasts Moanalua in five to reach OIA finals

Mililani's Emilee Craig and Inoa Fields celebrate a five-set win over Mililani. Greg Yamamoto | SL

Mililani outlasted Moanalua, 25-18, 24-26, 25-18, 27-29, 15-13 last night to advance to tomorrow's O'ahu Interscholastic Association championship finals.

An estimated crowd of about 400 at McKinley watched the Trojans improve to 13-0 in league play and advance to tomorrow's 7 p.m. title match at McKinley. They will face the winner of tonight's 7 o'clock losers' bracket final between Moanalua (13-1) and Kahuku (13-3) at Farrington.
A couple points either way last night might have re-arranged those matchups, but in the end it was Mililani that ended up on top.
After the teams split the first two sets, the Trojans used an 8-2 run midway through Game 3 to go up, 18-14, and kept Na Menehune at bay to take a 2-1 match advantage. Moanalua took a 13-8 lead in the fourth set, only to see Mililani respond with a 10-2 run to go up, 18-15.
The Trojans later served for match point at 24-23 but a hitting error tied it and another error gave Na Menehune the first of four serves for set point. They finally capitalized on the last one, with Katiana Ponce slamming her spike through a double block on the left side.
Moanalua took an early 4-3 lead in Game 5, but Kaila Kikugawa spiked two kills to spark a 4-0 run that put Mililani ahead, 7-4. Na Menehune stayed close, however, and eventually tied it at 13-13 on a kill by Erin Perez, but libero Emilee Craig landed a surprise kill and a net violation by Moanalua finally ended the match.
"Our hitters had their runs at different times," Trojans coach Val Crabbe said. "It was good teamwork."
Na Menehune coach Tommy Lake said Mililani's defense kept enough rallies alive for them to win crucial points.
"They dig a lot of balls, a lot of balls came back over at us," Lake said. "They also did a good job blocking, and we didn't adjust."