McKinley has a first-year girls varsity head coach and is in its first season at the Division II (White) level.

Best of all, the Tigers are in first place in the O'ahu Interscholastic Association White East.

Brenda Walker had 12 kills, and first cousin Pearly Togiai added five kills and served the final three points last night as visiting McKinley outlasted Farrington, 25-20, 15-25, 25-15.

"Right now I'm ecstatic for the seniors," said McKinley coach Chad Giesseman, the Tigers boys coach the previous seven seasons. "This is their first winning season we've had in four seasons. Especially for the girls who have played varsity for four years."

McKinley improved to 9-1; while second-place Farrington dropped to 7-2.

Giesseman said the Tigers should be able to get the top seed in the OIA playoffs by winning two of their final three matches.

"This is really great for us," said Togiai, a senior middle blocker. "Our coach put a lot of pressure on us to be OIA first place."

In the third game, Farrington got within 21-20 on a kill by Taiana Faafiti-Samuseva.

But a back-row attack violation by Farrington sent Togiai to the service line.

Two Governors hitting errors brought up match point, and Togiai's ace ended it.

"She's been our most consistent server all year," Giesseman said. "I gave her the decision if she wanted to jump serve. I left it up to her and she was confident enough to do it. I put it in her hands."

Walker had five kills in the final game with most coming from the left side.

"I had a lot of pressure on my back. I knew I had to put it away," said Walker, whose mother and Togiai's father are siblings.

McKinley's only defeat this season was to Farrington. In that match, Walker was slowed by shin splints and was "very ineffective," according to Giesseman.

"Today she played very good, very consistent," he said. "She's been one of those girls this whole season; she's carried us on her shoulders."

For the match, Farrington had 28 kills and 22 hitting errors.

"We made too many errors and couldn't capitalize on our game plan; little bit too much adrenaline going on," Farrington head coach Reagan Agena said.

Reach Kyle Sakamoto at ksakamoto@honoluluadvertiser.com.