Mililani senior outside hitter Jaelyn Tang puts down a kill midway through set 2 of Wednesday's four-set win over Nanakuli. Tang finished with a team-high 25 kills to help the Trojans improve to 4-0 in the OIA Western Division. CJ Caraang | SL

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NANAKULI — Jaelyn Tang put down 25 kills and Aria Miller added 13 to lead No. 7 Mililani to a four-set win over Nanakuli in an Oahu Interscholastic Association Western Division girls volleyball match Wednesday night. 

The set scores were 25-18, 23-25, 25-8 and 25-13. 

The Trojans improved to 4-0 to keep pace with Kapolei and Waianae for first place atop the Division I West standings, while the Golden Hawks fell to 3-2 and saw their three-game win streak snapped. 

At this juncture of the season, however, things are still very much a work-in-progress for her team, Mililani coach Val Crabbe described. 

"Oh, most definitely. We're still working on lineups," Crabbe said. 

While the Trojans ultimately won the match, they struggled in set 2 for the second straight match. On Monday night they dropped set 2 in a four-set win at Waialua. Wednesday it was Nanakuli that rode an 8-0 run en route to a set win in the second stanza, 25-23. 

Crabbe attributed the lapses in play to youth and inexperience. 

"We have a really young team," said Crabbe, who has just three seniors on the roster. "We have four sophomores and they really didn't play since eighth grade, so it's kind of like, ‘whoa.' "

Mililani trailed by as many as seven points midway through set 2 at 21-14, but pulled to within 23-22 following a Miller kill from the back row. It appeared to tie it at 23 following a kill by Tang, but after a discussion between the upper and lower officials, it was ruled that the Trojans committed a rotation violation. Consequently, instead of a 23-23 tie, Nanakuli held a 24-22 edge. Two plays later, Hailey Kauweloa ended it with a kill from the left side for the Golden Hawks. 

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"I think there was a lot of confusion on the court tonight with our rotations and I think just verbally communicating with each other, so I think we could do that better next time," said Tang, a senior outside hitter. 

Tang, Miller and fellow-senior Elle Rimando are the only team members who were on the 2019 squad that won the OIA championship. The rest of the Trojans are green behind the ears when it comes to the varsity level. 

"With this group of girls we really just have to focus a game at a time," Crabbe said. "I mean, my returnees they remember what an OIA championship looks like, they remember those things but this next group of girls haven't had that experience at all and they haven't seen the urgency yet, that hasn't become a reality, but I think it's becoming a reality now."

With Crabbe rotating through three different middles — including a pair of sophomores in Rheana Deen-Jackson and Alexis Rodrigues — setter Anae Asuncion, a sophomore herself, leaned heavily on her two veteran outside hitters in Tang and Miller Wednesday night — as they will almost every night. 

"We kind of depend on (Tang), her and Aria," Crabbe said. 

Tang was steady throughout the night, while Miller came on strong in the final two sets after a quiet start to the match, but as Crabbe pointed out, the pair have found a way to balance each other out. 

"Aria just didn't really have her (best) game (Wednesday), but (Tang) didn't really have a great game at Waialua, but she had a good game tonight," she said. "We just gotta get everybody doing what they need to do, but like I said, we're still working on lineups."

Tang said that she and Miller have developed a knack for knowing what the other is thinking. 

"Me and Aria, we've been playing together for a while so we know kinda how each other plays, so we do communicate with each other on and off the court about what we need to do so that we can play better in the next game," Tang said. 

Tang talked about what the message was from Crabbe between sets 2 and 3. 

"That we have to keep our heads in the game." She went on, "We can't just give up and we have to make sure we verbally communicate with each other so that we can get rid of all the confusion."

It seemed to have worked as the visitors wiped out the hosts, 25-8. The Trojans closed out set 3 with a 17-2 run. 

Set 4 was more of the same as they made a 11-3 run that included back-to-back aces by Rodrigues to take a 23-11 lead en route to the 25-13 win. Asuncion, who recorded 45 assists, finished things off with her dump shot that found the floor on match point. 

"Yeah, I know she wanted that really badly so I'm really happy for her," Tang said of Asuncion, who had two kills on the night and a pair of service aces. 

Mililani tallied 11 aces on the night, including three by Miller and two apiece by Rodrigues, Asuncion and libero LC Nakagawa. 

"That plays a big part because it has a lot to do with momentum, so when we get a long run I think it helps us keep the momentum and it helps us play with a lot of energy," said Tang, whose team had seven service errors. 

Hailey Kauweloa had a team-high nine kills for the Golden Hawks. 

Both teams next play on Monday. Nanakuli will visit Waialua at 5 p.m., while Mililani will host No. 8 Kapolei at 7 p.m. 

Tang said that it will take a collective effort to beat the veteran-laden Hurricanes. 

"We're gonna have to play with our hearts because we know that they have a lot of talent and they have a lot of height, so we're gonna have to work together and make sure that we play as a unit and not just as individuals," she said.