Reaching another major milestone as the "new kids on the block," Kaiser swept past Mililani, 25-23, 25-20, 25-23 last night to earn its first Division I state tournament berth in at least 10 years.

The Cougars, who were promoted to the O'ahu Interscholastic Association's Red (Division I) Conference this season, improved to 11-3 in league play and will face Eastern Division champion Moanalua (12-1) in today's 5 p.m. third-round match at McKinley.

Mililani, the West runner-up, falls to 10-3 and into today's 5 p.m. elimination match against McKinley (5-9) at Radford. The winner earns a state tournament berth.

For Kaiser, the Cougars can rest easy knowing their ticket to the Oct. 27-30 state tournament on Maui was already punched last night at Moanalua.

"It feels really good, because we've worked really hard," said Nikki Taylor, Kaiser's 6-foot-2 sophomore outside hitter who had a match-high 12 kills plus three aces and one block last night. "We've treated every single game as special and important."

The Cougars needed that focus against Mililani, a perennial West power.

The Trojans ran off six straight points in Game 1 to take a 19-17 lead, but Kaiser responded with a 5-0 run to go up, 22-19. Mililani then tied it at 22-22 after a kill by Shyanne Cossey, freshman Jordyn Keamo's ace and an error by the Cougars.

The teams then traded serving errors before Kaiser finally won it on line shots by Taylor and Courtney Phillips.

Taylor's ace gave the Cougars the lead for good at 10-9 in the second game, with Kaiser pulling away after the Trojans kept it close at 18-16.

Mililani jumped out to a 10-5 lead in Game 3, only to see the Cougars claw back and eventually tie it at 21-21. Taylor slammed back-to-back kills to put Kaiser up, 24-22, and after the Trojans closed it to 24-23 on a dink by Kalia Kikugawa, Cougars setter Jolie Au ended it with a surprise tip shot of her own.

"We have only three seniors and it is a new experience playing in the Red, but we were in the exact same situation last year in Division II -- as the East No. 3 seed against West No. 2," Kaiser coach Ernest Noborikawa said. "When you go in blind against a new opponent, it makes it harder. But when we were down 20-17 (in the third set), I told them, 'Don't look at the score.' They just had to know what has to be done and execute."

Haley Durham, a 6-foot junior middle, added nine kills for the Cougars. Keamo led Mililani with seven kills and three aces.

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