The Trojans celebrated after outlasting Waipahu in four sets in the OIA D1 semifinals. Peter Caldwell | SL

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The Trojans celebrated after outlasting Waipahu in four sets in the OIA D1 semifinals. Peter Caldwell | SL

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It took a set for Mililani to settle down, but once it got into a groove there was no turning back.

The Trojans dispatched third-seeded Waipahu, 16-25, 25-22, 25-20, 31-29 at Radford's Jim Alegre Gymnasium Tuesday night to advance to the Oahu Interscholastic Association's Division I championship game.

Mililani kept its record perfect with the victory and more importantly gave itself a chance at redemption against the also undefeated Moanalua in the championship game.

"It feels good," said junior outside hitter Nathaniel Johnson. "We know Moanalua, we lost to them last year in the same championship game in this same gym, so we're looking for revenge this year and cannot wait."

The urge for revenge was evident in the play of Johnson and star opposite Sila Fuiava, who delivered bombs early and often towards Waipahu's blockers.

"Sila was just on it," said Mililani coach Trenton Niino. "Sila was a super human tonight. I think he might've had two errors, and he was just outstanding, outstanding."

Fuiava led Mililani with 23 kills, seven digs and two aces while Johnson added 16 kills to go along with five digs and two aces.

After dropping the first set of the match in dramatic fashion, the Trojans looked like a brand new team. Kill attempts that the Marauders had previously found successful were easily thwarted, while Mililani's hitters were delivering crushing blows.

Johnson's kill put the finishing touches on the second set for the Trojans. In the third stanza, two consecutive Fuiava kills put Mililani up 2-1 in the match.

In the fourth set Waipahu, with its championship aspirations on the line, came out swinging to claim a quick 7-1 lead.

"I told them, ‘we cannot go to a fifth, we cannot let them have any momentum, we cannot'," said Niino. "I'll take blame for that deficit we were in, I think Waipahu went up about six points, I should've called a timeout earlier and that's my fault."

But as their coach screamed it from the sideline, the Trojans did the only thing they could: chip away.

The Marauders maintained their lead half way through the set at 17-11, but a Waipahu service error and an acrobatic dump from Mililani setter Chance Guillermo sparked a Trojan run.

"We started off the set kind of bad and we kind of thought to ourselves, some of thought maybe this is over," said Johnson. "But there were a couple of our guys out there that turned it on and all of a sudden all of our boys started playing really, really good."

A Fuiava kill made it 22-all and two consecutive Johnson kills put the Marauders' backs against the wall. They managed to fight off six match points to stay alive but another Johnson kill and a consecutive hitting error gave Mililani the game.

"Our coach talked to us and asked how much we wanted it, and (told us) that we needed to fight harder, and that's what we did," said Fuiava. "I'm proud of my boys."

Niino expects the win to help give his team confidence going into the championship game.

"Oh I hope it brings a lot of momentum going into Moanalua," said Niino. "Moanalua is a tough team and you know they've been here before. So our boys, last year, they know what they got to do. So I hope that this boosted up their confidence because Waipahu is a great team, and they worked hard, our team worked hard."

Bradley Tacata led Waipahu in the loss with 13 kills, seven digs and two aces.