McKinley's Nakoa Nunies had a team-high nine kills in a straight set win over Kaiser. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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Led by the trio of middle Nakoa Nunies, outside Joseph Abe and setter Roger Chen, McKinley improved to 4-1 in OIA East play with a 25-20, 25-20 win on the road against Kaiser.

"This (win) was critical, this was definitely a critical game, not only because Kaiser is really good, they have John John (Stanley)," said Nunies. "They're more of a control team, to be able to play with them and beat them it was very important."

Chen dished out 18 assists, Nunies put down nine kills and a block solo, and Abe added eight kills for the Tigers, who never trailed in the match.

"He's made a big improvement from since he's freshman year that I've seen, he's been phenomenal," said McKinley assistant coach Devin Lee of Chen. "He's shocked me some times, surprised me, and I like it. He's getting better everyday, making better decisions, being a smarter setter."

Kaiser trailed early and saw the first set margin grow to as large as 21-13 before rallying the late stages to close to within three at 22-20 thanks to Jon Stanley kills on three consecutive points. The Cougars were not able to get any closer, however, and surrendered the final three points of the set to McKinley.

Abe put down six kills in the first set for the Tigers and Stanley seven to pace Cougars in the first.

The Tigers jumped out to 4-0 lead in the second and built that margin to as large as seven, thanks in large part to the hot-swinging Nunies, who put down seven of his nine kills in the second set.

"Coach Chad always says the first five points are critical, so if we get those points, we know we're going to win the game," said Nunies. "The last five points is even more critical than the first, so we just have to keep pushing on, we work together, communication is very important."

Down but not out, the Cougars clawed back to within four thanks to a quick 3-0 scoring spurted capped off by a Cody Chun kill, forcing McKinley to reinsert Nunies, who had been subbed out with the Tigers seemingly in control at 23-16.

Chen went right to Nunies on the very next play, a middle set that the six-foot-four Nunies promptly slammed into the Cougars' backcourt to bring the Tigers to match point.

Kaiser kept the match alive on a Tanner McDonald kill before a service error by the Cougars ended the match.

Stanley led all hitters with 10 kills, McDonald added four, and setter Aaron Brockert dished out 15 assists for Kaiser in the loss.