The Wai'anae boys volleyball team took the valuable lesson it learned from suffering its first loss of the season and made it count yesterday, when down a set it came back to win the final three.

"Once we had that loss, we just told each other to 'Remember yesterday, remember yesterday,' and that's when it kicked into action for us," said Wai'anae senior outside hitter Anthony Robinson, who had 11 kills.

Wai'anae beat Mililani, 21-25, 25-19, 25-12, 25-19, in an O'ahu Interscholastic Association Red Division tournament match last night at Farrington High School.

Wai'anae (13-1) advances to tonight's championship match against Roosevelt (14-0) at McKinley High School, following the White Division championship at 5 p.m. If Roosevelt wins, it is the champion. If Wai'anae wins, the teams meet in a winner-take-all match Saturday at McKinley. Roosevelt beat Wai'anae Tuesday night.

Wai'anae and Mililani already earned state tournament berths, but Mililani (12-3) completed its OIA season with a third-place finish. Both teams entered yesterday with one loss in the double-elimination tournament.

The Trojans started strong, and were most effective with setter Scott Enos serving and middle blocker Reid Pangelinan in the front row. That combination gained them leads of 7-1 and 18-12 in the first set, with four aces by Enos.

The Seariders tied it at 21, but the Trojans scored the final four points of the set, with a kill by outside hitter Kenton Soares to win it.

Tough serving by Wai'anae forced Mililani to scramble. Errors plagued the Trojans in the second and third sets. With seven kills to six errors in the second set, the Trojans hit .038. But they were still able to stay with the Seariders until 17-16, when Wai'anae went on an 8-3 run to end the set.

"They listened to what we told them to do," Wai'anae coach Fulton Dela Cruz said. "After each time out, they executed to the 'T'. About playing defense and hitters knowing where to hit and where the defense was weak."

Robinson didn't record a kill in the third set, but served nine straight points to give Wai'anae a 14-5 lead.

Wai'anae gained a 20-14 lead in the fourth set and was able to hold on to the six-point margin through the rest of the set.

"We're not consistent and that's what killed us," Mililani coach John Ing said. "Every part of the game relies on our passing in order for us to run our offense, We couldn't get that. Our first set we ran with it and were passing well and that's how we came on top. But we just went downhill from there."

WHITE TOURNAMENT

Waipahu defeated Kapolei, 25-23, 25-15, 20-25, 21-25, 22-20, yesterday at Farrington to advance to the White Division championship match against Moanalua. Kapolei ends its conference season as the third-place OIA team. Waipahu and Moanalua play today at 5 p.m. at McKinley High School.

Moanalua, Waipahu, Kapolei and Kaimuki earned the league's four state tournament berths.