Kaiser's Joe Hoddick (center) attempts to get a kill attempt through Kalaheo's Anthony Rowan (left) and Josh Ko (right). Sean Nakamura | SL

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Kalaheo's Luke Owens watches the ball drop after blocking a Kaiser kill attempt. Sean Nakamura | SL

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Casey Bolda (left) and Riker Kasamoto (right) celebrate after a point against Kalaheo in set 5. Sean Nakamura | SL

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Kaiser's Makena Kaneaiakala knocks down a kill against Kalaheo. Sean Nakamura | SL

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Kaiser's Casey Bolda spikes the ball for a kill against Kalaheo. Sean Nakamura | SL

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For the Kaiser boys volleyball team, the fourth time was the charm.

After falling short in three previous meetings this season against Kalaheo, the Cougars battled back from an 0-2 deficit to stun the previously unbeaten Mustangs in a five-set thriller, 27-29, 19-25, 25-18, 26-24, 15-10.

"This is a very good feeling," said Kaiser middle blocker Makena Kaneaiakala on the win over Kalaheo. "The first three times we played them we kind of just played their game, but coach told us just play hard and we'll succeed at the end."

Kalaheo opened up to a 6-3 lead early in set one, but Kaiser evened the count at 6-all on back-to-back kills by Daniel Fraser followed by a combo block by Riker Kasamoto and Makena Kaneaiakala. From that point onward, the Cougars held the advantage in the first, despite being outblocked by  an 8-3 margin by the Mustangs, reaching set point at 24-20.

The Mustangs refused to concede the opening set, turning back set point number one with a spike by Anthony Rowan, and staved off set point two on a Kaiser hitting error, forcing Cougars' head coach Jon Stanley to call for time.

Two more Cougars' hitting miscues made it anyone's game at 24-all, until the Mustangs were able to string together a pair of points, at 27-all, a Luke Owens kill off a Silila Tucker set followed up by a Kupa'a Harrison swing that hit the hardwood for the set winner.

The sledding wasn't much easier for Kalaheo in the second set, as they trailed 3-0 in the very early going but rebounded nicely, assuming the lead at 12-11 on a Kaiser miscue and then building that margin to as large as 5 points late, eventually taking the set 25-19.

Backs to the wall, Kaiser needed to respond and they followed suit, erasing an early Kalaheo advantage with a 10-0 scoring spurt capped off by a Kasamoto to Casey Bolda connection to push the lead to 18-11. The Mustangs closed to within 4 points on an emphatic slam on an overpass by Owens, but the Cougars avoided the unforced errors that hurt them early to maintain a healthy cushion, and took set three on another kill by Bolda at 25-18.

Set four was a see-saw affair, with the a total of 14 ties and 6 lead changes, but the turning point in the match may have been a dig by libero Mason Ohta off of a huge swing by Kalaheo's Anthony Rowan that caromed off the roof of Student Council Gymnasium and somehow ended up becoming a perfect bump set from Kasamoto to a waiting Bolda on the left wing, who slammed it to the floor to bring up set point in the fourth.

Kasamoto then set up Billy McGivern for a kill up the middle on the next exchange to send the match to a decisive game five.

"We just had to set the middles more," said Kasamoto of one of the keys to the comeback. "I wasn't doing a good job in the first couple of games getting the middles involved. We got Billy and Makena going, which was really big for us."

The fifth and final set was for the most part dominated by the Cougars, who jumped out to 10-7 advantage on a kill by McGivern on a free ball that hung over the net following a touch off the Kaiser block. Bolda slammed down his match-high 25th kill off of an Ohta set to stretch the lead to 12-8, but the Mustangs rallied to close the gap to 13-10 behind the arm of Sam Orcutt, who put down four kills in the final set.

But the East top-seed Mustangs did not get any closer, as Christian Sele notched his 11th kill of the night to bring Kaiser to match point, and Kaneaiakala started the celebration by slamming a middle set by Kasamoto, his 55th assist of the match, to end it.

"This was a goal, we set some goals early, one was to win the OIAs so we're in line and its exciting," said Stanley. "For us, this is a fun part of the season, and we're having some fun right now. We just got to keep it going."

Kaiser now awaits the winner of next Tuesday's match between Moanalua, a straight set winner over Roosevelt in the consolation bracket final, and Kalaheo, for the right to take on the Cougars on Thursday at 7:00 p.m. back at McKinley, in a potential title game should Kaiser win.

A loss by the Cougars would mean a winner-take-all rematch on Saturday for the OIA Red division crown.