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It was six years in the making, but the Division II girls state volleyball crown is returning to St. Francis.

Tyler Marie Kalei Mau put down a team-high 10 kills with five digs and Harlee Meyers added seven kills, seven digs and five aces to lead the Saints to a straight-set win over Leilehua Saturday in the title match of the New City Nissan/Hawaii High School Athletic Association D2 State Championships.

A crowd of about 1,200 at Neal S. Blaisdell Arena saw St. Francis win 25,-17, 25-23 and 25-11 to claim its first state title since 2005, when it won the inaugural D2 tourney.

"It feels like a dream come true," said Mau, who hit .292 for the match. "This has been all we've been talking about and now we're here, so it's just an indescribable feeling."

The 6-foot-1, junior outside hitter committed just three errors in 24 attempts. Angel Savea had eight kills with seven digs, Jedidah Hanakahi recorded 12 digs and Lexis Satele added 31 assists, six digs and four blocks for St. Francis (13-2).

The run to the Saints' second state title in school history was an unlikely one. St. Francis qualified as the third team out of the Interscholastic League of Honolulu, behind both Hawaii Baptist and Sacred Hearts, and had to win four matches in four days.

"It's been so long since our school has gotten notice and just making history for our school, that was the main point of what we wanted to do," said Meyers, who did not commit a service error against her five aces. "We strive to work as a team to make our team noticeable."

St. Francis coach Sonja Samsonas credited her team for serving the Mules tough.

"That's helped us this whole season, in fact," said Samsonas, especially pointing to Meyers and libero Leila Matsumoto, who added three aces, as did Hanakahi. "Leila has been a three-year starter for us and the whole tournament she has been on."

The Saints finished with 11 service aces against six errors.

"We always spend time on that in practice - pushing the other team with our passing," said Meyers. "We knew that if we could control the tempo of the match with our serving, that's how we would win the game."

St. Francis used an 8-1 run in game one to turn a slim 10-9 lead into an 18-10 advantage. The Saints finished game one on a 5-2 run, capped by Mau's kill to end it at 25-17.

The Mules held a 12-9 lead in the game two that forced a St. Francis timeout.

"I told them that we had to stay fundamentally sound and just play regular defense and rneverything else will come," Samsonas said. "If we dig and we pass, everything else will rncome."

The Saints closed within a point at 17-16 on a Matsumoto ace to for a Leilehua timeout, but St. Francis rallied to take a 22-21 lead and held on to win the game, 25-23. Kololia Atoia-Williams put away game point with her shot down the left sideline.

"We wanted to quick the corners and the middle," said Mau. "Nothing was about power, it was about placement."

Game three was all St. Francis as it built an early 3-0 lead and never looked back. A 6-1 run gave the Saints an 18-9 lead and they closed out the game with a 6-0 run to win it, 25-11.

"It feels great to be able to bring the title back to St. Francis," Samsonas said. "We've had a lot of trials and tribulations that we had to overcome throughout the season. We played a lot of D1 teams just to keep the competition up and I think that helped with our level of play and intensity of play in the postseason."

Aleia Hamm had 10 kills, Ashlee Vaoifi notched nine kills with 14 digs and Elizabeth Dumlao added 18 digs for Leilehua (10-8). The Mules, the runner-up from the Oahu Interscholastic Association, went five games in both of its previous two matches. Leilehua defeated fourth-seed Seabury Hall in a quarterfinal Thursday and upended top seed and ILH champion Hawaii Baptist in Friday's semifinal round.

"I don't think that was too much of a factor, but I do think maybe it had something to do with the environment," Mules' head coach Larry Cantero said. "Maybe it was playing in the arena for the first time ... the lighting, the height - I don't know - but St. Francis came to play today."


Division II All-Tournament Team (as selected by the media)
 
Tyler Marie Kalei Mau, St. Francis
Ashlee Vaoifi, Leilehua
Alea Hamm, Leilehua
Kololia Atoia-Williams, St. Francis
Lexis Satele, St. Francis
CJ Asuncion, Hawaii Baptist
 
Most Outstanding Player:  Harlee Meyers, St. Francis