MISAWA AIR BASE, Japan – Three years ago, coach Ricky Andrew had T-shirts made that said “unfinished business” on the back, denoting how close his E.J. King volleyball team came to winning Far East.

On Saturday, wearing one of those shirts, his Cobras took care of that. In its third Division II Tournament finals appearance in four years, King swept Zama 25-21, 25-22, 25-19 Saturday at Robert D. Edgren’s Eagles Nest.

“We finally finished that business,” Andrew said. “I’m really proud of the girls. They worked hard all season. Our motto was, be comfortable being uncomfortable. Volleyball is a sport in which you feel uncomfortable. And they rose up.”

The Cobras went 7-0 during the D-II tournament and only dropped one set. This, after finishing runner-up to Yokota in 2023, taking third place in 2024 and losing last year’s final to Christian Academy Japan, which was going for a title three-peat.

The Trojans were going after their second D-II title, their first since 2019, and their sixth Far East crown overall dating back to their first of four D-I championships in 1979.

Zama coach Joanna Wyche was chasing her first D-II title since leading Daegu to the 2013 championship, the first of three that she won at the Warriors’ helm.

And the Cobras had some rough goes against the Trojans earlier this season, including a pair of losses at Zama in early September.

“The difference was the grit that we maintained all game, with no letdowns, and our work ethic is truly like no other team,” Cobras senior hitter and tournament MVP Aniah Little said.

Regarding the losses at Zama, “we learned from our mistakes, we studied our weak aspects, we grew stronger and smarter every game and let no outside noise bother us,” Little said.

“She was determined she was not going to be stopped and she played lights out,” Andrew said of Little. “She was on another spectrum.”

And the Cobras won the title despite not having their best serving option, senior Nanami Crump, who suffered a shoulder injury on the first day of the tourney. Rawya Jallad, better known to her teammates as Coco, came off the bench to replace Crump.

“I told the players it took all nine of us,” Andrew said. “We just had to keep going. Next man up, business as usual and Coco made some big plays. They enjoyed each other and played so well together.”