Openers George Worker and Sri Lanka import Mahela Jayawardene did a decent job of blunting the ball for 4.5 overs before Worker departed for 15 off as many balls, including three crisp boundaries.
Leftie Worker looked sharp but had uncharacteristically shuffled back to a fuller delivery from first-change seamer Warren Barnes who unsettled his furniture.
Enter former Black Cap Jesse Ryder at first drop to rousing applause, jump starting his T20 season after a cameo one-match appearance from last summer.
Ryder looked promising, middling the ball although the fans held their breath as he lifted a shot over on drive as a Volts fielder jumped in vain to get his fingertips to the ball.
Regrettably he was out for 25 from 22 balls to a soft dismissal a few balls later, trying to flick a Barnes' full toss over the rope but finding Black Cap Jimmy Neesham at deep square leg not long after scoring two fours.
Veteran Jayawardene was the top scorer with 62 runs from 44 deliveries, including six fours and two sixes, although he did make the most of surviving a dropped catch at mid-off when he was on 20 to lend credence to the theory that classy players and teams create their own luck.
Neesham claimed his wicket after the retired Sri Lanka international failed to clear the boundary in attempting to hit a six over Kitchen to finish with a strike rate of 140.9.
Young kept the scoreboard ticking over with 18 runs from 16 balls, including a six.
However, it was No 5 Tom Bruce who again underlined his authority and composure in the middle order to show it's not a matter of if but when he will represent his country in the white-ball formats for now.
The 25-year-old from Taranaki added an unbeaten 33 runs to the collective from 19 balls, including four boundaries and a six to post the highest strike rate of 173.7.
The writing was on the wall for Otago when batsmen came and went cheaply too early on in the innings to be 69-5 a few balls before the halfway mark.
The visitors were 2-15 when Young and wicketkeeper Dane Cleaver ran out opener Anaru Kitchen for two before CD swing merchant Seth Rance lulled Volts skipper Hamish Rutherford into playing too early for a dolly catch to Young for nine runs.
Recalled Black Cap Neil Broom brought stability with 28 runs from 25 balls before spinner Marty Kain had him marching off after Young got his safe hands around another ball.
It wasn't until No 6 Neesham and No 7 Josh Finnie got on that the Volts stopped the rot and even looked like taking the game to the wire.
It seemed as if the Heinrich Malan-coached Stags were going to regret Worker dropping Finnie at point on nine runs from a Blair Tickner delivery to break the ominous partnership in the last ball of the 11th over as Otago were precariously placed to ask the question at 86-5.
However, Rance brought a raucous cheer when he drifted one right through the gates of Finnie to switch on the neon lights to dismiss him for 27 runs.
The Wairarapa player again showed his worth as a frontline bowler now that Black Caps seamer Doug Bracewell is out of the Super Smash campaign after tearing his cruciate ligament in his knee in the previous rain-abandoned affair against ND Knights at the dodgy FMG Stadium in New Plymouth.
With the Volts needing 50 runs from 24 balls, Neesham tried to step up but holed out to Kain from a Ben Wheeler delivery for 34 runs.
However some lusty hitting from Brad Wilson put a hush into the crowd but the No 9 batsman, who scored 21 from 10 balls, including two sixes and a four, heard the death rattle from a Wheeler pearler.
With 13 runs required from an over, the Black Caps greater squad member tightened the screws on Neil Wagner and Bradley Scott, who sacrificed his wicket running a second single with seven runs needed from a ball as Otago posted 161-9 to finish five runs shy of the target.
