Roosevelt outlasts Kaiser in five set marathon to close out OIA East schedule

Rayden Aoki | SL

Roosevelt was taken to the limit, but ultimately found a way to escape with a five set win over Kaiser, spoiling the Cougars' upset bid on Senior Night.

The set scores were 20-25, 25-23, 26-27, 25-18, and 22-20.

Jonathan Yadao put down a game-high 23 kills, the highest output for the outside hitter since a 27 kill outing against Farrington in the early stages of league play.

"We always want to finish the season strong, when we're the away team we want to pay big and play strong, and I'm super proud of my teammates for steppong up tonight," said Yadao of the gritty five set win.

Yadao also added four total blocks and four aces for the Rough Riders, who were without the services of regular starting setter Ryder Barretto, which forced a change offensively to a single setter look with Daniel Kim running the show solo.

"We've been running a 6-2 all season and we've had our struggles who our setter was going to be (tonight in the 5-1), and I feel like tonight Daniel set himself up as a player we can depend on for the upcoming playoffs," said Yadao.

Kim responded with 41 assists, four blocks, an ace and a kill in his first true start at the position.

"There's a lot of pressure just running the 5-1 as I'm not used to being the primary setter but I think I was able to fill in and set the primary," said Kim.

Both teams struggled with consistency at the service line, as the teams combined for 46 service errors while registering 15 aces in the process.

A deciding fifth set went well beyond the 15 point mark, and Kaiser had three chances at the match but were turned back each time.

Kaiser's bid for a stunner to send off seven seniors came up just short, but had little impact on the overall standings, as the Cougars had already locked up the second seed out of the East in Division II.

The Cougars were led by sophomore Dillon Hall, who had a team-high 14 kills and added three aces via an effective float serve. Senior Natan Mazur added 11 kills, two blocks and two aces and fellow senior Ryan Larson dished out a game-high 44 assists.