The season won’t be long, but the Kaiser Cougars will extract every ounce out of it they can.

Kaiser rallied from an eight-point deficit in set two and a 10-point deficit in set three en route to an 18-25, 25-23, 26-24, 13-25, 15-9 win over Moanalua in the OIA season opener for each team on Wednesday night.

Senior Brandon Waters powered the Cougars with 20 kills.

“We just changed our momentum getting the first-ball pass. We were all shaky for the first-ball pass. We were nervous against Moanalua,” said Waters, a 6-foot outside hitter. “Right after we got passes to our setter, we started running it way better after that.”

Treston Dakota had seven kills, three aces and a block in Kaiser’s balanced attack. Micah Ah See had five kills and two blocks, and Jacob Waters, Brandon’s twin brother, tallied five kills and one block. Setter Rylan Kwok amassed 36 assists, one ace and one kill. Steve Cannon added four kills and three blocks.

The only element missing, of course, was a raucous home crowd. No spectators are allowed because of pandemic restrictions.

“They’re a great team, Moanalua, so they definitely could come back at any time. We look forward to Moanalua every year, so beating them is definitely a good start to our season,” Waters said.

Cougars head coach Michael Smyrychynski has been in the program for 15 years.

“We haven’t beaten Moanalua in eight years,” he said. “Our biggest flaw is we never seem to think that any point matters, which is also good because if we’re down by a lot, we don’t really think it matters. They’re a very relaxed, very fun group. That is an issue I don’t want to have happen, but I wasn’t panicking with the time outs. I was not worried, and they rewarded my patience with them tonight.”

Christian Tafao led Na Menehune with 16 kills, two aces and one block. Logan Ho added 12 kills and one block, and Sage Caneso-Bantolina tallied five kills and a block. Barron Paikai had 23 assists, six kills and a block, and Nate Palacay had 18 assists. Austin-Noah Ariola had two aces.

Moanalua’s serve had the home team off balance in the opening game. Kaiser had just four kills with five hitting errors, four service errors and four more unforced errors by all possible means.

Brandon Waters didn’t have a single kill in the first set, and Kaiser trailed 19-11 in set two before igniting.

“25 points is a long game,” Smyrychynski said.

Kaiser rallied with a 7-2 run to pull within 21-18 when Caneso-Bantolina’s kill stopped the momentum temporarily. Down by four points, Kaiser got back-to-back kills from Brandon Waters, and smash down the middle by Ah See, and then tied the game at 22 on a Moanalua hitting error.

After another tie at 23, Kaiser went ahead on another kill by Brandon Waters. Kwok’s ace ended the second set and tied the match at 1.

In set 3, Moanalua seized control quickly and extended its lead to 16-6. Once again, the Cougars caught fire. They went on an 11-3 run to pull within 19-17.

After a kill by Paikai, Na Menehune had a 21-18 lead, but Kaiser rallied to tie the game at 21 and 22.

Moanalua surged ahead 24-22 on consecutive kills by Tafao, but Kaiser roared back on a kill by Cannon and a block by Treston Yokota to tie the set. Moanalua then committed a hitting error and a double-contact on a set, and Kaiser had a 2-1 lead in the match.

Set four was a dominant performance by Moanalua. Kaiser went flat, but never ran out of gas.

The final set was tied at 4 before Kaiser took the lead for good.

The Cougars had a 9-8 lead when Moanalua committed a net violation. After Brandon Waters pounded an overpass, Kaiser had a three-point lead.

Moanalua pulled within 11-9, but got no closer. Kaiser closed out the match with four points in a row, including a kill by Brandon Waters and a roof by Ah See.

A rotation violation by Moanalua on match point ended the night.