The sixth-ranked Bulldogs celebrate after winning a point against HBA in an ILH Division II match Tuesday night. Michael Lasquero | SL

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Natalie Piper puts down a kill against the HBA block Tuesday night in an ILH D2 match. Michael Lasquero | SL

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KAILUA — Natalie Piper put down 16 kills to go with 11 digs and an ace to help No. 6 Le Jardin rally to a three-set win over visiting Hawaii Baptist before a crowd of about 500 fans at Charles B. Wang Gymnasium Tuesday night.

The scores were 19-25, 25-17 and 25-22.

The Bulldogs improved to 6-0 on the season — despite dropping just their second set all year — to move into sole possession of first place in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu Division II standings.

The teams split the first two games before exchanging runs in game 3.

The Eagles jumped out to a quick 3-1 lead on Britney O'Donnell's tip over the block, but Piper ignited a 7-1 Le Jardin run with her cross-court shot. The Bulldogs led 8-4 when O'Donnell put down another tip kill and then teamed with Ally Wada on a block to pull HBA within 8-6.

HBA reclaimed the lead at 10-9 on a Le Jardin attack into the net, but an ensuing service error knotted it back up. The Eagles then reeled off three straight points to go up 13-10 and force a timeout, which gave the Bulldogs a chance to regroup, Piper said.

"It was really just, ‘We gotta focus, we gotta get these right now and just focus on these next points,' " said Piper, a senior outside hitter/opposite.

The timeout worked to perfection as the hosts scored nine of the next 10 points, including four straight. Even after an HBA timeout, Piper pressed on, slamming down a pair of kills from the left side on well-placed sets from Nive Tuileta, who finished with 25 assists.

Natalie Piper puts down a kill against the HBA block Tuesday night in an ILH D2 match. Michael Lasquero | SL    Purchase image

"Nive is an amazing setter. I'm really glad she's our setter this year," Piper said. "Her sets are beautiful."

Piper's seventh and eight kills of the set gave the Bulldogs match point. The Eagles got to within 24-22 after back-to-back kills by Kallie Langford and a backrow attacker violation against Le Jardin, but got no closer as a service error ended the match.

After it went up 16-14, several Bulldogs appeared to celebrate what they thought was the end of the match.

"There was definitely some confusion. Some people weren't sure if the game was ending at 15 or if it was ending at 15, but I think that kind of helped us because it made us think, ‘OK, we've got to do this now. We don't have time to let this go any further. We have to end their serving streak right now,' " said Piper, who recorded half of her kills in the final set. "We won't do it again, but I think it actually helped us in the end."

HBA coach Myles Shioji said that Le Jardin's tough serving took his team out of rhythm in game 3.

"We obviously did not pass as well as we could have and so we couldn't run our offense, we couldn't get it to our middles. They did a great job of serving us out of system," Shioji said. "Le Jardin played really well. We have a lot of work to do on our end. They're a really good team and we have to get back in the gym tomorrow and get better."

The Bulldogs adjusted at the net after having two of their first three attacks of the match blocked.

"The block on that side was much bigger than we anticipated," Le Jardin coach Lee Lamb said of the Eagles. "They did a great job of matching up with us; they shut us down. I think that kind of unnerved us a little bit and I felt like the passing broke down in some spots, but we flipped it the second to try and get a little better matchup for Natalie on the pin and get her away from Ally Wada ... she was killing me."

Wada, a senior setter, posted 19 assists, 18 digs, five block assists and four kills to pace HBA. Langford finished with a team-high 13 kills, along with four digs and Naiya Fujikawa chipped in with 14 digs and five assists.

Tuileta also had eight digs, three kills, one ace and a block assist for the Bulldogs. Libero Kailee Lyons dug a team-high 13 balls and Julia Fisher added nine kills with seven digs and three blocks.

The Eagles committed 17 hitting errors and fell to 5-1.

The Bulldogs had just 12 hitting errors.

It was a rematch of the last two D2 state finals. HBA won in three sets in 2015, while Le Jardin avenged the loss in five sets last season.