Pete Velasco never had a doubt.

Facing elimination, his Roosevelt Rough Riders let an early lead slip away and lost the first set against Leilehua. Instead of buckling, Velasco reminded his squad to stay calm, and they rallied for a 23-25, 25-21, 25-23, 25-23 win over the Mules on Thursday night in an Oahu Interscholastic Association White playoff at McKinley.

With Leilehua suffering its first loss of the double-elimination girls volleyball tourney, the two teams will meet Saturday for the White championship.

Jasmine Fujimoto and Alida Holt led a balanced Roosevelt attack with nine kills apiece. Holt had two of Roosevelt’s 11 aces, and had all three of her blocks in the pivotal third set. Taylor Bradley was a key cog in the attack and finished with 14 assists and eight kills.

Kaitlin Hazama (five kills), Brandi DeLeon (five kills) and Kyanna Guieb (four) provided clutch plays for Roosevelt (9-6), which lost to Leilehua last week. That early playoff loss meant little to Velasco.

"I just was thinking, we’re getting off to a slow start. We just had to calm them down. Last week was last week," he said.

Roosevelt’s serve game was strong from the start — five aces in each of the first two sets — and prevented Leilehua from fully utilizing its height advantage. Alea Hamm, a 6-foot-1 middle, led the Mules (7-6) with 11 kills and three blocks, and super sophomore Ashlee Vaoifi added eight kills and eight aces.

For Roosevelt, a third match in as many nights was a difficult stretch, but they’ll have today to rest up.

"It was a long three days," Velasco said. "We’re a little tired, but I’m glad they pushed through."