Cougars grind out home win over Mustangs

Greg Yamamoto | SL

Kaiser earned a sweep of visiting Kalaheo the hard way, winning the first two sets, 25-19, 25-13, before having to outlast the Mustangs in a third set that went the distance, 27-26.

Down 14-9 in the third set, the home team clawed its way back into match, going on a 5-0 spurt that featured a kill and block by Valo Sopoaga, then battled back again down 21-17 to take the dead at 22-21 on yet another Sopoaga kill.

The set teetered back and forth, with a Jazzahlei Satele kill tying the match yet again at 26-all, forcing a winner-take-all final point. The Mustangs served tough, forcing a bump set to Jennifer Kaufusi, who took a standing swing that grazed the top of the tape and redirected over and landed just out of the reach of a trio of players on the Kalaheo side to end it.

Shereya Ufuti led the way for the Cougars with 11 kills, three blocks and 13 assists, with Sopoaga contributing seven kills and two aces. Kaiser got at least four kills from six players.

Satele led all players with 12 kills.