Radford High School will make its first O'ahu Interscholastic Association boys volleyball championship match appearance next week, after holding off Roosevelt, 25-23, 26-24, in last night's semifinals at McKinley's Student Council Gym.

The Rams (14-0) will play Kalaheo, a 25-19, 25-19 winner over Pearl City, for the title next Thursday at McKinley.

Radford built big leads in both games last night, only to see Roosevelt (10-5) storm back each time. But as they have all season, the Rams stuck together to pull out the victory.

"Teamwork — that's all it is," Radford coach Damon Reyes said. "I was telling the boys they just have to settle down and play their game, and everybody did their job."

The Rams led 21-15 in the first game, but the Rough Riders scored five straight points and stuck around at 24-23 before Billy Nihipali's kill ended it.

In the second game, Radford's lead was even bigger at 17-10. But Roosevelt rallied again and tied it at 19. The teams then traded points until the Rams finished it off with kills by Glen Klaiber and Eric Peterson.

"We didn't want it to go three," said Klaiber, who notched seven kills, three blocks and an ace.

After all, Radford had waited long enough for its first OIA title match. Klaiber, in his fourth year on the varsity, said he and the other four seniors knew they had a shot at making history this season.

"That first year, that's when we had the building blocks," Klaiber said. "After the preseason (this year), we knew we had a chance to go all the way."

After an undefeated regular season, the Rams swept Castle in Tuesday's quarterfinals before staving off Roosevelt.

Rough Riders coach Kaui Mendonca said he was proud of how his team came back in both games, but ultimately the big deficits were too much to overcome.

"I was telling our guys we cannot afford to give up that big of a spread to a good team like Radford," Mendonca said. "They were just more consistent than we were in setting, passing and hitting."

In the other semifinal, defending champion Kalaheo's balanced attack helped end the first game with a 10-4 run and the second with a 10-5 spurt.

The Mustangs improved to 13-1, while Pearl City fell to 10-4.

CORRECTION

Castle defeated Mililani, 25-18, 25-23, in Tuesday night's quarterfinals. The scores were reversed in yesterday's story.

Reach Wes Nakama at wnakama@honoluluadvertiser.com.