Mililani put in a long night’s work to earn a day off.

In a matchup of the OIA Red’s last two unbeaten teams, the fourth-ranked Trojans outlasted No. 3 Moanalua in five sets on Tuesday to move one win away from the program’s first league championship.

Mililani sophomore Jordyn Keamo put down a match-high 21 kills, and senior Kaila Kikugawa posted five in the decisive set as the Trojans pulled out a dramatic 25-18, 24-26, 25-18, 27-29, 15-13 victory at McKinley Student Council Gym.

"It’s been tough, they are such a strong team," Mililani coach Val Crabbe said.

"We didn’t want to play a fifth set, but we try to go a point at a time. Our whole season we’ve focused one game at a time, one team at a time."

Mililani (13-0) earned two shots at the OIA Red title and the league’s seeded berth in the Division I state tournament with the victory in the double-elimination tournament. The Trojans’ first opportunity comes in the second match of Thursday’s 5 p.m. doubleheader at McKinley.

Moanalua (13-1), the top seed from the OIA Red East, has a quick turnaround before facing defending OIA Red champion Kahuku in an elimination match today at Farrington. The match will follow a White division playoff match set for 5 p.m, with the winner advancing to face Mililani on Thursday.

"We’ve done it before, we had to play this match last year," Moanalua coach Tommy Lake said. "Hopefully we can spread it out a little bit more and come back. This was a tough match so we’ll see how it goes.

"We have to stay consistent, right now Mililani is executing better than us."

Mililani won the first and third sets to inch toward the tournament’s final round, but Moanalua rallied in a dramatic fourth set to push the match to a fifth.

Mililani went on a 12-3 run to take a 20-16 lead, only to see Moanalua score five of the next six points to tie the set at 21.

Mililani had a swing at match point at 24-23, but a hitting error into the net kept Na Menehune alive. The teams traded sideouts until Katiana Ponce put down back-to-back kills to give Moanalua the 29-27 win.

With Moanalua leading 4-3 in the fifth, Kikugawa, who had four kills through the first four sets, put down three in a 7-2 run for the Trojans.

"I have great teammates who never give up and great coaching. We all want the same thing," Kikugawa said. "I just wanted it so bad. It’s my senior year and I want just to give it all every time."

But as they had throughout the night, Moanalua battled back and forged a 13-13 tie on Erin Perez’s team-high 17th kill.

Crabbe called a timeout and Emilee Craig, the Trojans’ libero, came flying out of the back row to hammer a kill to give Mililani match point.

"That was amazing," Crabbe said. "She loves to hit, she’s been doing well in the backcourt, and it was interesting."

This time, Mililani didn’t let the opportunity slide by as a net violation on Kikugawa’s kill ended the match and several Trojans fell to the court in celebration.

"As a team, they work so well together," Crabbe said. "They really care about each other, which I think has a lot to do with our success."

Mililani got 14 kills from junior Inoa Fields, while Silerolia Gaogao contributed 12 for Moanalua.

Kahuku knocks off Kaiser

Kahuku rallied from a set down and stayed alive in the tournament with a 22-25, 25-16, 15-9 win over Kaiser.

Tyra Williams was in on five blocks in the final two sets for the Red Raiders, including two in the decisive third set. Kaiser’s Annika Rigterink finished with a match-high 12 kills and had two blocks for the sixth-ranked Cougars (12-3). Sinamoni Tonga led No. 5 Kahuku (13-3) with seven kills.