Sometimes, a painful loss is the tonic a coach needs.

The Waianae Seariders bounced back from a stunning defeat at the hands of Mililani to hand Radford its first loss, 25-19, 21-25, 15-9 on Monday night at James Alegre Gymnasium.

Waianae and Radford are atop the Oahu Interscholastic Association West at 7-1, but the Seariders now have the head-to-head edge if the teams finish the regular season tied. The top two teams in the division will earn first-round byes in the upcoming playoffs.

Senior Hulili Kahikina was explosive with 16 kills, while junior Caleb Kaopuiki was crafty with nine kills, including five in the final set. Some of his kills were precisely placed off Radford’s relentless block.

“We knew Radford was undefeated. We had to beat them and get our momentum back,” Kaopuiki said.

The Rams got nine kills from Jeremy Ramos and 22 assists from Blu Kurt Puyaoan.

“Waianae used our block a little. They’re a team with a lot of experience,” Radford coach Christine Christe said. “We fought back from some big deficits. We started off in the hole in the first set and the third set.”

The visiting Seariders, with a hearty following of about 50 fans, rolled to a 10-4 lead to start the opening game and stayed ahead 20-14 before the Rams rallied. Keanu Tenorio delivered three aces in a row to help the home team rally within 20-18.

Kahikina then helped the Seariders close strong with a 5-1 run.

Ramos’ surgical precision led to five kills in the second set as the Rams settled down and evened the match.

They seemed somewhat spent, however, as Waianae dominated the third set. They led 8-2, getting two big kills from senior Tim Meyshine. Radford scrapped and battled back to within 9-7, but middle Ezra-Koby Barnes came up with a kill on an overpass to spark a 5-0 run by the Seariders.

Kaopuiki ended the match with a kill from the right side.