'AIEA — Unranked Pearl City took No. 6 'Aiea the distance, but on senior night, the host Na Ali'i held on to edge the Chargers in five sets and claim their first O'ahu Interscholastic Association Red West Division title since 2006. The scores were 26-24, 24-26, 26-24, 25-27 and 16-14.

'Aiea improved to 11-0. Pearl City fell to 8-3.

"It was an exciting match, our first five-set match this year," 'Aiea coach Blythe Yamamoto said. "Pearl City came to play tonight, but it was a matter of us trying to control our emotions (because) senior night is a pretty big night around here. It was a test for us, but you know, our team hung in there and did a good job."

Kelly Leopoldo led 'Aiea with 20 kills and 11 digs. Melelatu Samisoni added 16 digs and four blocks, and Danielle Grace contributed nine kills, 17 digs, three blocks and an ace.

"Kelly's a great all-around player," Yamamoto said. "She's definitely a solid fixture that we build around, but this year, the team has been the strength. All season long, somebody has come up and it's always been someone different and that's been the beauty of this team this year."

Last night, it was Grace who put away match point after the match had run nearly 2 1/2 hours, during which the teams battled point-for-point.

An indication of just how tight the match was played out on the scoreboard. After four sets, both teams had scored exactly 101 points apiece.

"It just came down to serving errors for us in that fifth game, but overall, we're real proud of our girls on how they came back after being down," Pearl City coach Stephanie Shigemasa said. "But, you know, every time you play 'Aiea, it's going to be one of these kinds of matches."

Na Ali'i took the first set, scoring seven of the final nine points, and stole Set 3 after trailing 5-0.

The Chargers twice evened the match, scoring seven of the last eight points in Set 2 and holding off match point in Set 4.

Pearl City took a 12-10 lead in the final set on a kill by Nicole Boyer, but the Chargers committed back-to-back errors to knot it at 12. Following an 'Aiea lift, Samisoni put away a quick set from Ka'ala Leopoldo to tie it 13-13.

"We just really had to relax," Grace of the fifth set said. "We were playing tense, but once we told each other to relax and calm down, everything started to fall into place."

Keani Passi's kill for Pearl City was sandwiched by blocks by Samisoni and Grace, the second of which gave Na Ali'i match point at 15-14. Grace's cross-court shot found the floor to seal the win.

"That was just so sweet," Grace said. "I don't even have words to explain it, except that it was really awesome."

Michelle Lambayan added 13 digs for 'Aiea, which concludes the regular season Tuesday at Radford. Pearl City hosts Campbell Tuesday.

"This is basically last year's team that went 6-6. So just having that one more year of experience, one more year of confidence," Yamamoto said. "I just knew they could do it, I didn't have to help them get up, they knew what to do and they came out and did it."

Tonisha Buford had 17 kills, Marie Fuji added 12 and Reyna Acosta had a match-high 26 digs for the Chargers.