Zackary Miyamoto and Na Menehune will try for their seventh straight OIA D1 title against Sila Fuiava and the Trojans Thursday night. ScoringLive photo illustration

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Thursday night's Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I boys volleyball title match has all the makings of an epic showdown.

On one hand you have the Mililani Trojans (12-0). A worthy competitor that dropped just one set during the regular season and finished as the West's top-seeded team.

Their opponent? Six-time defending OIA D1 champion Moanalua (13-0).

Mililani will look to stop Na Menehune's reign in the OIA when the two teams meet in the league's D1 championship game Thursday at Jim Alegre Gymnasium. First serve is slated for 30 minutes following the conclusion of the Division II title game between Farrington and Castle, which starts at 5:30 p.m.

The Trojans are coming off an intense four-set 16-25, 25-22, 25-20, 31-29 win over Waipahu in the semifinals, a match that put Mililani in a situation that it hasn't been in all year. Sophomore setter Chance Guillermo said the win over the Marauders boosts his teams chances against the defending champs.

"I feel like this game, that last set especially, really prepared us for this upcoming Moanalua match," he said. "We're looking to defeat (Moanalua's) record and become the next reigning champs."

It will also be a chance at redemption for the Trojans as Moanalua defeated Mililani in four sets in last year's title game.

"We've been wanting this game for one year now, and we're going to bring it," said first-year Mililani coach Trenton Niino, who was a longtime assistant under former head coach John Ing. "Moanalua is a great team and they're experienced. They know their stuff. We just have to step it up."

If there's an area of an improvement that the Trojans can zero in on, it would be how they start games. All season long Mililani has weathered through errors in the first set before cleaning it up to make the rest of the match more decisive.

"We have to start off stronger the next game," said Guillermo. "We also have to be more consistent with our hitting and have to use different types of sets so we throw off our blockers and finish our plays."

While Mililani is trying to avoid the same disappointment it felt a year ago, Moanalua will try to avoid letting its head coach down as he mourns the passing of his mother. Na Menehune coach Alan Cabanting, who guided Moanalua to its past five OIA titles, is currently in Guam for the funeral.

Six-year assistant Austin Zavala is currently leading the team as Na Menehune waits for Cabanting's return for the state tournament.

"The boys all know the situation, and they're all kind of rallying together for (Cabanting) in his absence," said Zavala.

Senior setter Zackary Miyamoto said the onus is on the senior class to help the team band together in support of Cabanting.

"All the seniors are making sure everyone is working hard," he said. "We want to patch things up and make coach Alan feel like he's not letting us down or anything. That's on our part to make sure that we're helping him out in a way."

From an X's and O's standpoint, Thursday's championship match will also be Na Menehune's first time without Austin Matautia since 2012. Matautia was a four-year varsity player that is now playing for the University of Hawaii Rainbow Warriors.

Zavala said Matautia's absence in the lineup was something that the team has been preparing for since the previous season.

"Because he was only one person, we kind of had to develop that last year where we we're an all-around team. Because of that, everyone has kind of stepped up and said ‘it's not one person, it's everybody.' We're all going to go for it and so they've just banded really together to do what they're supposed to do."

Moanalua certainly has the hitters to do it. In Na Menehune's straight set sweep of Kapolei in the semifinals, four different players had seven kills or more. Miyamoto's options on the attack include pin hitters Kalai Leopoldo, Nalu Demello and Bhrycen Asuncion, alongside middles Duncan Clark and Caleb Casinas.

Mililani isn't short on firepower either. Three-year varsity player Sila Fuiava put down 23 kills in the Trojans' win over Waipahu. Junior Nathaniel Johnson had 16 more and middle Samuel Palompo chipped in seven kills. Guillermo also got into the attack with five kills of his own.

While the match could go either way, one thing is for certain; it's going to be a treat for all those in attendance.

"The OIA West is really strong," said Miyamoto. "Thursday is going to be a really good game."

Note: Moanalua will be trying for its ninth straight overall OIA title, but seventh in D1. Na Menehune won the D2 title in 2009 and 2010 before winning a D1 title in 2011. Moanalua's first three OIA titles were under Doug Hee, the rest have been with Cabanting.