Waianae's Akoni Faumuina notched 14 kills, 3 blocks and 2 aces in a win over Mililani. Peter Caldwell | SL

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Waianae's Akoni Faumuina notched 14 kills, 3 blocks and 2 aces in a win over Mililani. Peter Caldwell | SL

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SALT LAKE — Waianae always saves its best for last.

The Seariders overcame a slow start to defeat Mililani in five sets in the opening round of the New City Nissan/Hawaii High School Athletic Association Division I Boys Volleyball Championships at Moanalua's gymnasium Friday evening. The set scores were 22-25, 25-22, 28-30, 25-19, 15-11.

"We always start slow, but we tend to find our groove," said setter Jahren Muliagatele. "We had to start picking up our pace. Mililani is not a team that you can play around against. We just had to keep on working and get things in motion."

Muliagatele was at the forefront of the Seariders' attack, dishing out 56 assists among five different hitters, all of which finished with double digit kills.

"That's what I wanted, for all my hitters to step up and bring their ‘A' game," said Muliagatele. "I couldn't feed only one hitter tonight, I had to work everybody all around and feed the with confidence."

Nayton Kuresa, who finished with a team-high 15 kills, delivered hits in spurts to keep Waianae in the contest. Akoni Faumuina thrived in the middle and took advantage of a handful over passes to finish with 14 kills. Isaiah Agiga turned it up in the later stages of the match and also finished with 14 kills. Junior outside hitters Landon Young and Hezekiah Agiga finished with 13 and 12 kills respectively. Libero Jonah Poe provided the defense with a match-high 16 kills.

Sila Fuiava had a match-high 18 kills to lead the Trojans in the loss. Kingston Nishimura added 14 more and Micah Talamoa finished with 12 kills, three block assists and one solo block. Zavier Lieb had 50 assists and 15 digs to set up Mililani's attackers.

Waianae held an early 9-2 lead in the opening set, but gave up a 10-1 run down the stretch to trail 20-17. The Seariders made it a one-point game on back-to-back Mililani net violations, but could not get over a diversified Trojan attack. Nishimura had a couple of timely tips and middle Sean Reilley  heated up late to keep Waianae at bay.

"They made some changes to their positioning to give us some problems and it worked," said Waianae coach Wilhelm Wagner. "Those quick throw downs in the middle, it was working. We just had to tighten things up and just minimize errors to help put back points on our side."

The Seariders pulled away late in the second set, 25-22 to even things up at one game a piece.

In a critical third set that would go into extras, it was the Trojans who pulled out a 30-28 win. Reilley's block gave Mililani a 29-28 advantage and Nishimura's tip off the feed from Lieb helped give the Trojans the advantage after three games.

With their backs against the wall, the Seariders found a way to force a fifth and final set. Waianae used a 9-2 run that was sparked by Isaiah Agiga to close out the penultimate game.

"For the seniors, they know it's their last chance to show something," said Wagner. "That's the fight they got in them just to stay in the game.

"I told them from the third set, ‘just try to have fun. Get back into practice mode and just have fun and play.' Impress the other team to play against you. That's what makes us better. You push us, we push harder."

Waianae jumped out to an early 10-4 lead in the final set and never looked back, winning the match three games to two.

The Seariders will take on defending state champion Punahou in a 5 p.m. quarterfinal game Saturday afternoon.

"They're not number one for no reason," Muliagatele said on Punahou. "They work their way up there. They're a very good, hard and physical team. I believe that my teammates are ready for a good challenge."