The first time Le Jardin marched to a championship, Lee Lamb led the flock.

This time, he let go some and his senior hitters provided key direction. Julia Fisher pounded 23 kills and Natalie Piper had 22 as top-seeded Le Jardin defended its Division II title at the New City Nissan/HHSAA Girls Volleyball State Championships with a 25-23, 25-14, 22-25, 25-16 win over Hawaii Baptist on Saturday night at Blaisdell Arena.

Le Jardin (16-1) used a wicked serve game to keep HBA (13-5) off balance for much of the match. The Eagles, who finished second to LJA in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu, had the edge in aces 4-2, but Le Jardin often targeted HBA’s big hitter, Kallie Langford (24 kills). That was enough to slow HBA’s rhythm.

“Last year, winning the first title was a legacy moment, a special moment for our school. This year, our seniors had a much larger role in how things transpired,” Lamb said. “How we would attack practice and games. It’s nice to have a group with that kind of accountability.”

Piper, who had 52 kills (.314) and had 40 digs in the tourney, was selected the D-II tournament’s most outstanding player, joined by Fisher and setter Nive Tuileta on the all-tournament team. Filling out the team were Damien’s Shelby Capllonch, Nanakuli’s Janae Odom and three HBA Eagles: Langford, setter Ally Wada and libero Naiya Fujikawa.

“The five sets against Damien (in the semifinals) took a lot out of us last night. We needed everything we could give to beat Damien, but it’s no excuse,” HBA coach Myles Shioji said. “All the credit goes to Le Jardin.”

The teams met just once during league play, a win by LJA, but they also met in last year’s state final.

“It was a little bit of a chess match with rotating matchups,” Lamb said. “They had Wada versus Piper in some situations and they caught fire on defense in the third set.”

HBA finished with an .049 hitting percentage, while LJA hit .170. The Bulldogs had a slight edge in digs, 82-79.

Seeking its fifth state title, HBA couldn’t get going against the bigger Bulldogs for a couple of sets. Le Jardin, which lost to HBA in the 2015 state final, had no intention of slowing the pace.

“Honestly, coming into this game we knew HBA wasn’t going to lay down,” said Fisher, a 6-foot opposite who had a number of kills from the middle. “We knew if we gave them anything they were going to take it. In the fourth set, we were, OK, this is our set. We did not want to open the door.”

Piper had a team-high 73 swings along with 19 digs. Kailee Lyons had a team-high 26 digs, while Halle Hetzler added 15, and Tuileta had 10 to go with 48 assists. Fisher also had 10 digs.

Langford led HBA with 24 kills in 92 swings, and added nine digs. Brienna Nishimura tallied eight kills, while Wada had a double-double with 31 assists and 22 digs. Fujikawa tallied 19 digs and Courtney Anume added 10.

HBA led the first set 13-12 after a 5-0 run, fueled by an ace and a kill by Langford. But Le Jardin answered with a 7-2 run, getting three kills from Piper, including two from the back row.

The Eagles rallied to within 24-23 on kills by Langford and Wada, but a service error gave LJA the win.

The first set was all defense. HBA hit -.027 and LJA finished at .048.

Using a serve that had the Eagles off-balance and unable to get consistently clean passing, LJA controlled the second set. Leading 9-8, the Bulldogs went on a 10-2 run. After a kill by freshman middle Ellie Diersbock, LJA led 19-10 and HBA never got closer than an eight-point margin.

Down 12-6 in the third set, the Eagles started to play with a heightened level of urgency and made a major rally, tying it at 18 and 20 before taking the lead 21-20 on Maya Nakasone’s ace.

At 22-all, HBA scored on three consecutive kills by Langford to win the third set and stay alive.

HBA trailed 10-4 in the fourth set before sparking a rally with trademark defense, tying the game at 13 on a block. However, Le Jardin went on a 12-2 run, benefiting from a string of hitting errors by HBA, to win going away.