If you're Kalani or Waianae, expect a rough ride on the way to the Oahu Interscholastic Association Red Conference championship.

Defending OIA champion Roosevelt put itself in great shape to claim its fourth Red title in five years with a 25-23, 17-25, 25-19, 25-19 win over the Falcons yesterday at McKinley.

Thanks to the double-elimination format, Kalani and Waianae will play today at Farrington for the right to challenge Roosevelt tomorrow.

The unbeaten Rough Riders will have to win just one of two matches—either tomorrow or in a potential rematch on Saturday—to take the championship.

Roosevelt fully expects to meet its East Division foe again.

“;I think we'll probably see Kalani again, which is our rivals,”; Rough Riders coach Kaui Mendonca said. “;They're a good, scrappy team and we gotta be ready again.”;

Roosevelt may have to lose twice, but yesterday it was the Rough Riders who had Kalani seeing double.

Seniors Joby Ramos and Kainoa Mitchell were superb in playing off each other, alternately hitting and setting each other up for powerful strikes.

The 6-foot-1 Ramos went for 23 kills and 26 assists, and the 5-foot-9 Mitchell tacked on 16 kills and 22 assists, despite nagging tendinitis in his right (hitting) shoulder.

Mitchell, however, was much more active than in Roosevelt's previous win over Leilehua, giving the Riders a go-to hitter at all times.

“;That was just good volleyball,”; Mitchell said. “;He's our senior, so he led us. When our middles are clicking and our outsides are clicking, everything's good. Perfect volleyball.”;

Junior middle Kaipo Pale added 11 kills.

Mendonca knew going into the match he wanted to get more out of Ramos.

“;We felt like yeah, we needed to establish Joby,”; Mendonca said. “;The last couple games he had, he wasn't swinging so good, so we wanted to get him started again.”;

Despite falling to 0-3 vs. Roosevelt this year, Kalani coach Kawika Marasco feels his team matches up well against its rival. It was hard to argue after the Falcons went toe-to-toe with the Rough Riders in Set 1, falling just short when Ramos put down a cross-court kill.

Kalani then exploited Roosevelt mistakes in Set 2 to turn a 10-3 run, going from 15-all to taking the set going away.

But Roosevelt had seen about enough.

The Rough Riders never trailed in Set 3 and took a 2-1 lead when Mitchell rattled off four kills in a span of six Roosevelt points.

Ramos put down nine kills in the fourth set to ice it.

Should Kalani make it past Waianae, Marasco said his squad needs to improve its serving and passing to win.

“;We know we can beat them. It's there,”; Marasco said, noting one of the regular-season matches went down to the final set. “;But it's hard to come back against a team that good.”;

Senior hitter Angelo Berardy led the Falcons with 19 kills.

Waianae 2, Leilehua 1

The Seariders gained confidence and momentum as the match progressed, and rallied past the Mules for an 18-25, 25-21, 15-7 win to stay in the OIA Red championship hunt.

Conversely, Leilehua looked increasingly rattled as the Waianae bench celebrated every big point. The Seariders jumped ahead 9-2 in the final set and cheered the loudest when junior Blake Marinas posted an ace to seal it.

With its second loss of the OIA tournament, Leilehua was eliminated and received the OIA's fourth berth to the state tournament.

Pearl City 2, McKinley 1

After dropping the first set to the Tigers, the Chargers rallied for a 25-27, 25-15, 15-10 victory to claim the OIA's fifth and final berth in the state tourney.