Before sending his team onto the court against Moanalua, Edison (Calif.) coach Trent Jackson left the Chargers with a warning.

"They battle," Jackson said of Na Menehune. "That’s one thing I said, they’re never going to give up, they’re not going to go away. Keep fighting."

The Chargers bolted to sizable leads in both sets of Friday night’s Gold bracket championship match in the Ann Kang Invitational, and both times Moanalua clawed back into contention.

But Edison held off the Moanalua rallies and captured the tournament title with a 25-19, 25-20 victory at ‘Iolani’s gym.

Edison didn’t drop a set in its eight tournament matches in sweeping through the three-day preseason girls volleyball tournament and claimed the title for the first time in four trips to the islands.

"We’ve come close, so it means a lot," Jackson said. "There’s a lot of good teams here, and to win this tournament, it’s a great feeling."

The title match capped a long day for Edison, which played its quarterfinal match at 8 a.m. The Chargers’ march ended about 11 hours and 40 minutes later when middle blocker Alexa Hasen put down the last of her 11 kills against Moanalua.

Edison began the day by defeating Maryknoll 25-18, 25-10, and swept Newport Harbor (Calif.) 25-23, 25-15 in the semifinals.

"We went back to the hotel (between matches) and let them kick back in the rooms and watch TV and do what teenagers do, Facebook and text," Jackson said. "We got back in plenty of time, never felt rushed."

Moanalua got a slightly later start to the day and opened with a 25-18, 25-18 win over Palos Verdes (Calif.). Na Menehune then knocked off Mater Dei (Calif.) 25-23, 17-25, 15-12 to advance to the final of the gold bracket. The semifinal win came two days after Mater Dei handled Moanalua 25-11, 25-18 in pool play.

"We made a lot of adjustments just during the tournament," Moanalua coach Tommy Lake said after Na Menehune completed a 5-3 run in the tournament. "We played Mater Dei the first day and they put a beating on us pretty badly. To be able to come back and beat them today was great for our girls.

"It seems like we’ve come almost a month in these three days."

In the final, Edison’s size and power in the middle set the tone in the first set, with Hasen posting seven kills. In the second set, Moanalua scored the first three points, only to see Edison pull away with a 10-1 run sparked by Washington-bound senior Cassie Strickland’s work behind the service line. Strickland contributed three aces in the run, her last giving Edison a 10-4 lead.

Moanalua senior Katiana Ponce, a 5-foot-4 outside hitter, ignited Moanalua with four kills midway through the set and Na Menehune eventually closed to 21-18. But a hitting error and another Strickland ace gave the Chargers some breathing room and they were able to sideout for the last two points.

Ponce, Erin Perez and freshman Silerolia Gaogao all finished with seven kills for Moanalua.

"Because we’re a little smaller than most of the teams we’re playing, we have to operate at a little higher efficiency," Lake said. "Edison was great, they served tough and we just didn’t quite have all our hitters firing. But we played some really good defense. I’m really happy for our girls.

"We didn’t really have any kind of goal other than to try to get better, and obviously I think we’re a lot better team than we were coming in."

Jackson concurred with the assessment of Na Menehune, particularly regarding their defense.

"They dig a ton of balls," Jackson said. "They play a little different than what we’re used to, but they’re good at what they do. They hustle and scrap and play good ‘D.’ "

Mid-Pacific reached the final of the Silver bracket and lost to Huntington Beach (Calif.) 25-17, 21-25, 15-9. Santa Monica (Calif.) defeated La Reina (Calif.) 18-25, 25-16, 18-16 in the Bronze bracket final.