Taft Volleyball Sweeps Porterville Behind Balanced Attack

TAFT, Calif. - Taft College defeated Porterville 3-0 on Friday, Oct. 2, at Porterville College, taking the volleyball match 25-12, 25-14, 25-11. Jazzahlei Satele led the Cougars with 12 kills, while a balanced attack and 10 service aces helped Taft complete the road sweep.

The Cougars opened with a 25-12 first-set victory to establish a 1-0 match lead. They followed with a 25-14 win in the second set before closing out Porterville 25-11 in the third. The final set produced Taft's largest winning margin of the match at 14 points, and the Cougars held the hosts to 14 points or fewer in each set.

Jazzahlei Satele hit .379 with just one attack error in 29 attempts, finishing with 14 points, nine digs and two solo blocks. Jadalynn Satele contributed eight kills and a team-high 14 digs, giving Taft production at the net and in the back row. She also served two aces and finished with 10 points.

Ku'uleimokihana Manaois delivered seven kills on nine attempts, hitting .667 while adding a team-high four aces. She also recorded three digs, one solo block and one block assist. Vienna Perier supplied seven kills on .333 hitting and led Taft with 16 assists. Her six digs, one ace and one solo block complemented that offensive contribution, while Inara Chin Lee added 12 assists in two sets.

Teihanni Tafisi supported the back-row defense with 12 digs and added three aces and four assists. Havi Valdez led the Cougars at the net with three solo blocks, alongside three kills and four digs. Railye-Marie Makainai-Kon contributed four digs and three assists, and Natalia Strömsdörfer-Meza finished with one kill and two digs.

Taft totaled 38 kills and hit .278, committing 11 attack errors on 97 attempts. The Cougars finished with 36 assists, 55 digs and seven solo blocks, while their 10 aces came against three service errors. The Cougars will look to bounce back in their next contest in Cougar Country on Wednesday, Oct. 7, against Coalinga.