Kamehameha won the ninth annual Hawaii Invitational Tournament on Saturday, defeating Moanalua 21-25, 26-24, 15-5 at Kekuhaupio Gym.

The Warriors have won the tournament six times and appeared in the final all nine years.

Faith Maafala helped Kamehameha bounce back from a first-set loss with 11 kills and 15 assists in the Gold Division match. Teammate Allie Yamashiro led the Warriors in digs with 10 and added two aces. Pikake Laumana and Pomai Recca had three blocks each.

"Moanalua did a good job," Kamehameha coach Chris Blake said. "They came out on fire and were able to get the first set off of us. We were fortunate to come out with a win."

Moanalua enjoyed a late charge in the second set. A couple of controversial net calls against the Warriors added to the pressure. Two long rallies were also halted when balls from the other games rolled onto their court.

"They’ve got to learn how to play through adversity," Blake said.

The Warriors responded, winning the second set and then making short work of Moanalua in the third.

They got to the final by defeating Kamehameha-Hawaii 25-11, 25-15 earlier Saturday, and then had a quick turnaround to defeat Farrington 25-12, 25-16. Blake’s squad had less than half an hour to rest before playing in the final.

Moanalua was even less fortunate. Na Menehune had just a few minutes’ rest after defeating ‘Iolani 25-23, 19-25, 15-12 in a long match. The players had time to congratulate the Red Raiders, switch courts, drink some water, then get set to play again. According to coach Tommy Lake, the short break didn’t affect his players too much. Moanalua also defeated Mililani 25-17, 25-14 in its first match of the day.

"(It) wasn’t a problem for us because we had a lot of the players only play half of the time," Lake said of his young Menehune. "Until you see them in a game situation, you don’t know how they’re going to react under pressure."

Moanalua was led by seniors Jenna Park, who finished the night with six kills, and Analise Austin, who had five. Fellow senior Kaitlin Kamoe had six assists. Sophomore Shaylo Kagehiro had eight.

Both coaches said they were taking advantage of preseason play to see what each individual player could do.

That was evident in Blake’s plan, as he rotated many of his players to different positions. One in particular was the heavily hyped Alohi Robins-Hardy. The junior and state tournament team setter rarely set the ball Saturday. She was used primarily on the front line for blocks and attacks.

"We’re still in preseason mode, so we want to see who can play different roles and how they react to different situations," Blake said.