There was no home-court advantage when Farrington and McKinley played volleyball this season.

Last night, Farrington used late surges in each game to beat host McKinley, 25-21, 25-22, in the O'ahu Interscholastic Association Division II (White) title match.

Farrington, the East runner-up, will be the league's top seeded team for the state tournament, which starts Wednesday at Radford and McKinley.

"This gives us better confidence and we hope to take state champs," said Farrington's Valerie Lesu.

On Sept. 15, Farrington won at McKinley in three. Eleven days later, McKinley won at Farrington in three.

Last night, Brandy Kahanoi-Pimental and Keui Remigio each had six kills for Farrington (12-4).

"There is always a McKinley-Farrington rivalry ... we knew we could take them. We just had to stay focused," Lesu said.

It was Farrington's first OIA title since 1999. The OIA has held a DII tournament the past three years.

"It was a lot of hard work, a lot of sweat ... I don't want to say tears," said Farrington coach Reagan Agena. "It's well deserved. They worked really hard."

In the first game, Farrington used a 6-0 run to take a 22-17 advantage. McKinley (14-2) got within 22-20, but a Tigers' hitting error and Remigio's kill brought up game point. McKinley's Juri Franzen had a kill to make it 24-21, but Farrington's Desiree Kleman pounded one off the block — her only kill of the match — to end it.

Remigio, a 5-foot-9 junior, had five kills with no errors in the game.

"She's one of my diamonds in the rough," Agena said. "She trains real hard, works real hard, is constantly pushing."

In the second game, the Governors went on a 5-0 spurt to go up 21-15. The first four points of the run came off a McKinley service error, a hitting error, a lift and another hitting error.

Kahanoi-Pimental, a 5-8 junior, had four kills without an error in the game.

Farrington sophomore setter Brandy Vergado-Duclayan ran a smooth offense and also had four kills.

"I want to get her to spread the offense," Agena said. "When she's up on the net just be more active, more alive. When she sees a ball she likes, go ahead and swing at it."

Farrington finished with 29 kills and eight hitting errors.

"Just working as a team overall, calling out for everything and giving it your all," said Remigio when asked what was the key to the match. "Leaving everything out on the court like our coach said."

The Governors also did a solid job passing McKinley's serves.

"We passed up our balls to our targets," Remigio said. "We've been practicing that a lot and we got our sets."

Franzen had seven kills, and Pearly Togiai and Brenda Walker each had five for McKinley, the East champion.

The Tigers had 22 kills and 13 hitting errors.

"Most of these girls have never been in this type of a game before," said McKinley coach Chad Giesseman. "It might have gotten to a lot of girls."

Reach Kyle Sakamoto at ksakamoto@honoluluadvertiser.com.