David Tibayan attempts to get a kill attempt past a pair of Mililani defenders. Sylvia Lee | SL

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Leilehua's Robin Ramelb attempts to block a Mililani kill attempt. Sylvia Lee | SL

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MILILANI — Riding the momentum it picked up over the weekend, Leilehua overwhelmed Mililani in a straight-set sweep Tuesday night.

Robin Ramelb recorded seven kills, two blocks and an ace to lead the Mules to a 25-12, 25-15 win over the host Trojans. They improved to 8-0 in the Oahu Interscholastic Association Red West and handed their rivals their first loss to fall to 7-1. The teams entered Tuesday's match in a tie for first place in the seven-team division.

"We had to play to our potential and we had to step up and they stepped up," Leilehua coach Ernest Balignasay said. "The experience we had this weekend really gave us a whole bunch of confidence."

The Mules defeated Big Island Interscholastic Federation front runner Kamehameha-Hawaii at the Hawaii Boys Volleyball Invitational Tournament hosted by Iolani over the weekend.

"It builds our confidence because they're a really good team and we just tried our best during that tournament," said Ramelb, a senior outside hitter.

Despite the huge win over the Warriors, Leilehua had to rally to beat Kapolei, an OIA White team, in three sets just prior to taking on Mililani.

"It wasn't a surprise because we don't take any team for granted, but (Kapolei) did a really good job, we just had an off game," Ramelb said. "We just had to pull together and grind it out against Mililani."

The Mules broke an early 2-2 tie in the opening set with a 6-1 run that included five Mililani hitting or serving errors. Leilehua continued to separate through game one, taking leads of 17-7 and 22-10 en route to the 25-12 win.

Game two was tied at 3-all early on before a kill by Devin Ke-a ignited a 5-0 run. Mililani pulled within 13-11 on a Leilehua hitting error, but allowed the visitors to score seven of the next nine points to fall behind, 18-13. The Mules were never threatened the rest of the way.

"I was surprised (at the scores), but I had faith in my team," Ramelb said. "We just pulled together as a team and even though they were undefeated, we just tried to treat them like a regular team and just played our hardest out there. It doesn't matter about their record, we just wanted to pull this one out."

The regular season concludes Thursday. Leilehua plays Nanakuli and Aiea, while Mililani takes on Campbell and Pearl City.