Roosevelt's Alexis Tam blocks Hawaii Baptist Jaryn Ramos' kill attempt for a point. Sean Nakamura | SL

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Hawaii Baptist outside hitter Emily Wada led the Eagles with 14 kills in a match against Roosevelt for the HHSAA Div. II state championship opener. Sean Nakamura | SL

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Hawaii Baptist's Kaily Kum goes up for a kill attempt over Roosevelt's Brittnie Lee. Sean Nakamura | SL

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In addition to her 6 kills, Roosevelt setter Kaitlin Hazama made 26 assists to help the Rough Riders win over the Hawaii Baptist Eagles. Sean Nakamura | SL

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Roosevelt outside hitter Ashelyn Jones makes a kill attempt past Hawaii Baptist Academy's Sydney Suzuki and Madison Tanabe. Jones knocked in a game-high 23 kills to help lead the Rough Riders to victory over the Eagles. Sean Nakamura | SL

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Its been a rough ride just about all season Roosevelt, and an opening round match with Hawaii Baptist in the New City Nissan/HHSAA Division II Girls Volleyball State Championships, was no different.

The Rough Riders needed five hard fought sets to finally dispatch the Eagles, 25-19, 17-25, 23-25, 25-22, 15-11, and advance to face third-seeded Hawaii Prep in the second round. Roosevelt also improved their season record to 8-7 overall.

"It feels really good to win with my team, and to just fight back after how many losses we had." exclaimed Roosevelt outside hitter Ashelyn Jones, who led all players with 23 kills, six of them coming in the winner-take-all fifth. She also added 12 digs and an assist on the evening.

"Its our middles that are usually pretty tough, but Ashelyn played really great tonight, so we had to go with her (down the stretch)," remarked Roosevelt head coach Puna Velasco.

Faced with a must-win fourth set, Roosevelt trailed nearly the entire set, but found a spark in the waning stages, as a Jones' kill was followed by an Alexis Tam block and then a kill by Tam off of a Kaitlin Hazama set trimmed the Eagles' lead to 22-21. A timeout by HBA did little stop the momentum, and the Rough Riders closed out the set at 25-22 on an Eagles' hitting error to level the match at 2-all.

That momentum carried into the fifth and deciding frame, as Roosevelt benefited from a pair of Hawaii Baptist hitting miscues to take the early lead, and expanded that margin to 11-7 as Jones' knocked down her fourth kill of the match to get the Rough Riders into double-digits in the set and yet another Eagles' miscue forced a timeout.

Hawaii Baptist got to within a single point on a Jaryn Ramos dump shot that trimmed the margin to 12-11, but Jones' 23rd kill of the night was followed up by a Kahea Mojica kill to get Roosevelt to match point, and a final miss-hit ball by Hawaii Baptist ended it.

"They played great. We've been a bit up-and-down during the season, so it was great to see them come though (tonight)." said Velasco.

Much of the success Roosevelt was able to find with Jones on the outside came courtesy of the setter Hazama, who dished out 26 assists in the match, including four in the fifth set, all of them in Jones' direction.

"When I'm in the back row and Ashelyn's in the front, I usually try to just feed her." said Hazama, who also added 6 kills and an ace.

Also coming through tonight for both teams was floor defense, as four Rough Riders' players hit double digits in digs to the tune of 82, led by Karina Nago who had 14. Hawaii Baptist fared even better statistically, digging up 101 in five-sets, including 24 from Marissa Nakasone and 23 from Emily Wada.

Leading the way offensively for Hawaii Baptist was Wada with 14 kills and Ashley Young, who recorded a double-double with 11 kills and 14 digs. Ramos rung up a game-high 36 assists to go along with 18 digs and a block.

Alexis Tam had 11 kills and 11 digs for Roosevelt, while Mojica and Rachel Alm had a pair of aces each.

The Rough Riders are 5-3 on the season in games that have reached a deciding set.

"I'm proud that they fought back, cause it was close there for a bit. HBA was tough and they gave it everything the could give us." remarked Velasco. "They didn't quit, they fought through all the adversity so I'm happy."