Kainalu Demelo had nine kills and Travis Baguio had four of his seven kills in the final set as Maryknoll rallied past ‘Iolani 20-25, 25-20, 25-12 on Tuesday night at Clarence T.C. Ching Gymnasium.

The Spartans used an 11-0 run to close out the third set, sealing the victory.

Maryknoll improved to 4-5 in the ILH. ‘Iolani slipped to 2-6. With Punahou and Kamehameha high atop the standings, the remainder of the regular season might just be about positioning. Good as Kamehameha is, ILH teams are likely to prefer avoiding Punahou, the No. 1 team in the state, come playoff time.

Hugh Hogland, a 6-foot-8 sophomore, led the visiting Raiders with 11 kills, two blocks and an ace. He was outstanding early with seven kills and an ace in the first set. After that, however, he had just four kills. All six of his hitting errors came in sets two and three.

The third set was close at 14-12 after Hogland blocked Braden Kimura. Then, with Matthew Sun at serve, the Spartans went on the match-ending run. They benefited from a torrent of ‘Iolani errors: five hitting errors, plus a right-side kill by Jaylen Cain and an ace by Sun.

"He approaches every serve the same way," Spartans coach Sean Carney said of the sophomore. "All those serves were in and aggressive. Only two or three were in (‘Iolani’s) system."

Serving had been an issue at times for the young Spartans, a team with just two seniors.

"We’re not big, so we need to keep it in play," said Carney, a former All-State setter for ‘Iolani.

Two weeks earlier, Maryknoll edged the Raiders at ‘Iolani 29-27, 21-25, 25-22.

"The first one was more of a reactive game. This one was more strategic. The league is so good, it comes down to a couple of runs," Carney said. "We were lucky to get out of here with a win."

While ‘Iolani went cold offensively — hitting -.261 in the final set — Maryknoll stepped up in another crucial area.

"Our communication has really improved. When we win points, we’re not just stone-faced," Carney said.

The Raiders were coming off a stellar performance in the Hawaii Invitational over the weekend. They might have hit a wall during the third set on Tueday, though coach Carl Ralitta took the blame.

"We had self-inflicted wounds. At the tournament, we fought through adversity. Tonight, I couldn’t get them to execute mentally, and that’s the responsibility of me," he said.

Maryknoll didn’t hit especially well, but still nearly pulled out the first set. Four net violations (on block attempts) snuffed the Spartans’ momentum.

In each set, Maryknoll took early leads. In the second set, it was 5-0 before the visitors scored, and though the Raiders cut the margin to two points on two occasions, Maryknoll’s balanced attack prevailed.

Kimura tallied six kills, and Zach Franquez and Hayato Kamata chipped in three each. Andrew Caraang had 26 assists, two kills, a block and an ace.

"It’s not just location, but his decision-making," Carney said of his sophomore setter. "They have a huge block and we tried to avoid it."

John Lee added eight kills, an ace and a block for the Raiders. Zach Gelacio and Nathan Yang tallied four kills each, while Erik Yamada dished 27 assists.