The Division II Farmers put the wraps on a 9-1 mark with its first win ever over eighth-ranked Kamehameha Maui — the three-time defending Maui Interscholastic League champions in D-I — on senior day at the Warriors' gym yesterday afternoon. The Farmers have improved their record in the MIL in each of the four seasons with coach Matt Helm at the helm.

Yesterday's 25-23, 22-25, 25-21, 25-22 victory put the Farmers three games ahead of their 6-4 slate last season when they finished sixth in the Division II state tournament.

"It is huge,'' Helm said to The Maui News. "When I came into the job, I knew it was going to be a process. You know, you build a program, but when you beat a team like Kamehameha it is not an easy task. We prepared well for it. We knew that Dreanne (Shaw) was going to get her kills. They are a great team. I am just happy that we got an opportunity to play.''

Shaw, a senior front-line force, finished with a match-high 19 kills, several of them that resounded through the gym. For the second match in a row, however, the Warriors (8-2) had too many errors in a loss — 62. On Tuesday in a three-game loss to unbeaten sixth-ranked Seabury Hall, Kamehameha had 59 errors.

The Farmers overcame Shaw's power with a balanced attack. Senior Kelsy Takashima had 14 kills and freshman Kalei Adolpho added 10. Danna-Lynn Hooper led the attack with 33 assists and the Moloka'i defense was stellar. Libero Wailani Hernandez had 15 digs, Kuulei Keliikuli-Peters had 14, and Hooper added 12.

"Each year our record has been improving,'' said Helm, who took over in 2004 off the heels of a 1-9 campaign. "Putting the philosophy into the girls heads that it takes more than a season to get better, they have taken it to heart, playing club ball, putting in the extra time. That is what it takes to make good players.''

The return of Keliikuli-Peters, who sprained an ankle warming up for the Seabury Hall match on Sept. 22, and Hernandez, who missed two weeks with a wrist injury, put the Farmers back together again.

"It is nice to have everybody healthy, nice to have all of our options,'' Helm said. "It was real important for us to play well, not necessarily to win. Kuulei is a huge presence for us defensively. Wailani is back, too, which is also big on defense.''

While the defense continually forced the Warriors to keep rallies going, when Takashima got her chances she made the most of them.

"Kelsy has been our most consistent player all season, she is definitely our go-to person,'' Helm said. "She knows she is going to get the ball and we know she is going to do something with it.''

Takashima said having all the Moloka'i players available was encouraging, especially with the MIL tournament beginning Wednesday at Kamehameha.

Because they finished behind regular-season champion Seabury Hall, the Farmers have not yet clinched a state spot. Kamehameha has already punched its ticket to state because it is the Division I regular-season champion.

Sage DeCosta added nine kills for Kamehameha. Cymbree DeCosta had 23 assists, Kelsey Awai had 15 digs, Kayla-Al Kaluau had 13 digs, and Telissa Tua added four blocks for the Warriors.

"We are just not taking care of the ball on our side of the net,'' Kamehameha coach Bala Spencer said. "We are making too many errors, not being in the right spot. We are doing it in practice and — I don't know what it is, the excitement of the game or the hype of the game — we are not putting it on the floor. We can't win that way. We are giving the opponents way too many points.''

In the first game, Moloka'i jumped to a 6-0 lead, but the Warriors tied the score at 13-13. A Takashima kill put the Farmers up 20-15 and they held on from there.

The Farmers built a 21-18 lead in the second game before Shaw fueled a game-ending 7-1 run for the Warriors with four kills.

A dink by Adolpho ended the third game and the Farmers stormed back from a 13-6 deficit in the final game behind a 7-0 serving run by Vaoia Seumalo. The final game was tied 21-21 before a pair of aces by Hilary Chow put the Farmers in command.

"Today was really important because we wanted to come out of the season 9-1,'' Takashima said. "We always wanted to beat Kamehameha, so this is a great day for us. Especially in my senior year, it was good to come out and win after all the years of losing to them. This past week we had everybody back practicing, so we are in full gear and ready for the tournament, ready for anything.''