There was heart, but no encore performance for Mililani on Monday night.

Instead, Moanalua avenged last year’s OIA championship loss to Mililani with a 25-19, 25-13, 22-25, 25-14 win in the semifinal round at James Alegre Gymnasium. Junior Max Slaughter was a key contributor to a balanced attack with 14 kills and two aces. Senior Kalai Leopoldo added 12 kills and a match-high six aces.

“This was a big mental challenge to face them again,” longtime Moanalua coach Alan Cabanting said. “In a way, it’s unfortunate that we faced a really good Mililani team in the semifinal, but we will face a good Kaiser team or good Kapolei team in the final.”

Serving was a huge factor for Moanalua.

“Our serve, when we serve well like we did in sets one, two and four, then we don’t self-destruct,” Cabanting said. “With high-level teams, we need that location from our spin servers like Kalai and Kainoa (Ferguson).

Moanalua (13-0) will meet Kaiser on Wednesday in the final, again at Radford’s gym.

Middle Duncan Clark added seven kills, while Ferguson had five kills and an ace. Junior setter Cole Fukumitsu dished 37 assists and added two kills. Sophomore DiAeris McRaven chipped in three kills and three blocks.

Nate Johnson led Mililani (9-3) with 10 kills and an ace. Chance Guillermo tallied six kills, two blocks and an ace, and Tory Kato distributed 17 assists. For the match, Mililani was outblocked 10-2 and hit .132. Moanalua hit .267 against a hustling Trojans defense.

“I’m proud of our team. We had a lot of adversity this season, a very different team from last year, very young,” Trojans coach Trenton Niino said. “Moanalua is a machine. Even getting a set off them is an accomplishment. We could’ve easily went down in three (sets).”

The loss ended Mililani’s four-match win streak. The Trojans will meet Kapolei today at Farrington for third place.

The opening set was nip and tuck. The Trojans tied it at 7-all with a block by Johnson, and later a block by Guillermo. Moanalua then went on a 12-6 run to seize command. The Trojans got within 19-17 after kills by Jacob Prothero and Guillermo, and an ace by Johnson, but Moanalua finished with a 6-2 run.

The attack was balanced for Na Menehune, who finished with three kills apiece by Leopoldo and Slaughter.

Moanalua jumped to a 4-0 lead in the second set, but the Trojans hung around for some time. An 8-0 blitz by Na Menehune, fueled by three aces by Leopoldo, and kills by Ferguson, Slaughter and Fukumitsu, gave them a 19-9 lead and an easy win.

Then came Set 3, when the Trojans reached deep. Aces by Cade Nakao and Caleb Pascual helped spark the win. So did kills by Guillermo (on an overpass) and Johnson on a 9-2 run that turned a one-point deficit into a 22-16 edge.

Moanalua sharpened its attack in the fourth set, and the presence of McRaven was key. The 6-foot-5 sophomore had two kills and two blocks from his middle spot. His play hampered the effectiveness of Mililani’s big hitter, Johnson. He had nine kills in the first three sets, but had just one kill in 10 swings after that.

Kaiser 3, Kapolei 1

Jon Stanley Jr. pounded 23 kills and Jacob Summers added 21 kills as Kaiser defeated Kapolei 25-19, 25-21, 20-25, 25-18 in the other OIA Division I semifinal.

Kapolei, the West’s fifth-place team, came in with a four-match win streak. Coming off a stunning upset of Waianae, the top team in the West, the Hurricanes brought the same energy to the semifinal round.

Kala‘i Skeele delivered 53 assists for Kaiser (12-1). Kahea Kamalani added eight kills, three aces and two blocks. Dylan Poole tallied six kills.

Ezra Lono-Soares led Kapolei (8-5) with 16 kills. Kaimana Rodrigues added seven kills.

In the opening set, Kapolei led 17-16 after a kill by Rodrigues. Then Kaiser’s serve dominated the flow, and Stanley caught fire with a block and three kills during an 8-0 run by the Cougars.

The ‘Canes battled back in the second set and led 6-5. Kaiser then scored 12 unanswered points for a 17-7 lead.

Kapolei responded with a 9-2 run to pull within 19-17. The Cougars called time out and went to Summers at the middle for a key point. After a Kapolei violation, Stanley’s first ace of the match opened the lead to 22-17. Kapolei got no closer than three points as the Cougars took a 2-0 lead in the match.

Kapolei took the third set, getting five more kills from Lono-Soares.

The ‘Canes trailed 16-10 in the fourth set, then cut the lead to one point with a 5-0 run. Kaiser went to Poole for a kill, and after a Kapolei hitting error, setter Skeele came through with a dump shot and a block to open the lead to 20-15.

Moments later, Skeele won a joust at the net to open the lead to 22-16. Stanley then snuffed a dump attempt by Gavin Andaya, and Andaya returned the favor with a roof on Stanley. The Cougars put the match away on kills by Summers and Kahea Kamalani.