After emerging from the celebration pile, Kamehameha junior Alexis Robins credited an earlier defeat for the team's championship run.

Kamehameha defeated Iolani, 25-21, 25-20, in an Interscholastic League of Honolulu girls volleyball match yesterday at Iolani to win the ILH overall title.

After Iolani swept through the regular season undefeated — handing Kamehameha its lone loss — Robins said it was a "wake-up call" for the Warriors (17-1).

"They came out and showed us we needed to work harder in practice to get to this moment," Robins said.

Iolani (16-2) captured the regular season title and Kamehameha won the ILH's playoff round by beating Iolani on Tuesday to force yesterday's match. Both teams had already earned the league's two berths into the state tournament, which begins Monday, but played yesterday's match to determine the ILH's overall champion.

"We wanted to make sure we had as much momentum as we could going into states," Kamehameha coach Chris Blake said.

Kamehameha jumped to an 8-3 lead in game 1, capped by sophomore Kanani Herring's put down on an overpass.

The Warriors increased their lead to 13-6 on a double block, but the Raiders went on a 10-3 run, highlighted by back-to-back service aces by senior Megan Burton, to tie the score at 16.

The Raiders took their only lead at 18-17 on a block by sophomore Lauren Minkel, who led Iolani with five kills. The Warriors then closed with an 8-3 run, winning the game on a four-hit call on the Raiders.

"It came down to our passing," Robins said. "We tried to calm ourselves and focus on making that one nice pass."

Kamehameha led early in game 2 as well, moving ahead 8-5 behind two kills each from Robins and senior Deven Bukoski.

Iolani responded, gaining a 14-12 lead with help from Kamehameha, which had five hitting errors and four net violations.

That forced Blake to call a timeout. He tried to calm his players, reminding them of their "one play and flush" philosophy of playing a point and then forgetting about it.

"They fought through it and persevered," Blake said.

"We came together and had to calm ourselves and look to our main goal, which was winning it all," said Robins, who had a match-high seven kills. "We had to focus on why we were on the court."

The Warriors responded with five straight points, including two blocks and a kill by sophomore Bekah Torres, a kill by Robins and an Iolani hitting error, to make it 17-14. They never trailed again, although Iolani tied it at 20 on a block by Burton and junior Kapua Kamana'o.

The Warriors scored the final five points, on a block by Bukoski, two kills by Torres, a kill by Robins, and a service ace by Bukoski to end the match.

"I thought we would have more step, being that we were on our home turf," Iolani coach Luis Ramirez said. "We had a really hard time getting going."

Reach Leila Wai at lwai@honoluluadvertiser.com.