LIHU‘E — He sat out the first game of the match, so when Kaleo Cummings came off the bench for the Kaua‘i High Red Raiders in Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation boys volleyball at Kaua‘i High last night, to say he was hungry
LIHU‘E — He sat out the first game of the match, so when Kaleo Cummings came off the bench for the Kaua‘i High Red Raiders in Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation boys volleyball at Kaua‘i High last night, to say he was hungry was understatement.
He had 18 kills, including five big ones in the decisive fifth game, but a gritty Kapa‘a team forced five hard-fought games, before succumbing to the Raiders, 19-25, 25-20, 26-24, 23-25 and 15-8.
The closest game of the match, the middle one of the five, was also the strangest, with the Raiders gaining their first lead at 9-8 after the game was tied at 7 and 8, then not leading again until it was 25-24, behind the serving of Jay Fernandez. Several times during that third game, the Warriors built up leads of five points.
Game one was a seesaw battle, with six ties and five lead changes before the Warriors prevailed, a Rui Yap kill from a set by Kekoa Calipano finishing off that game.
In game two, Cummings had four kills and two aces, and Kaua‘i led the entire second half of that game after going ahead 12-11 after moving off of 11s, the sixth tie of that game. Fernandez added an ace in that game, and a kill by Lucas Riley made it 24-20 before the Raiders ended it.
Kapa‘a seemed in control of game three, ahead 21-16 before the Raiders rallied behind the service of Darren Lapitan and Tyren Hasegawa, whose ace tied things at 22.
Kapa‘a held the lead in the first half of game four, with ties at 8 and 9, before the Raiders took their first lead at 10-9, and ties came again at 10 and 11, with the Raiders holding the lead after taking it at 12-11 until the Warriors tied it at 21, then the Raiders tied it again at 22 and 23, but didn’t score again to force a game five.
The Raiders raced out to a 6-0 lead in the final game, and consecutive double blocks by Cody Morden and Riley made it 12-5, after which the Warriors did not challenge.
Riley had nine blocks and five kills, and Cummings had six blocks and three aces in addition to his kills. Lapitan had nine kills, seven blocks and a dig, and Austine Acorda had 12 assists.
Hasegawa had three aces, nine blocks, four kills and 15 assists, while Austin Simao added seven kills and 11 blocks.
Sean Shigematsu paced Kapa‘a with 11 kills and four blocks, and Stephen Greenleaf had seven kills and nine blocks. Colipano had an ace, a kill, seven blocks and 25 assists, and Cody Abigania had nine kills, an ace, a block, two digs and an assist.
Waimea is 2-0 in the second round and 6-0 overall, with Kaua‘i at 1-1 in round two and 3-3 overall, and Kapa‘a fell to 0-2 in round two and 0-6 overall.
Waimea hosts Kapa‘a Saturday, April 25, with junior-varsity play starting at 5 p.m., and the varsity match no earlier than 6:30 p.m. Kaua‘i hosts Waimea on Wednesday, April 29, at the same times.
Can the Raiders give the Menehune a match this round?
“I don’t know what it is when we play Waimea. I know a lot of it is intimidation,” said Raider Head Coach Merrill Carvalho, adding that his squad has several days of practice before hosting Waimea in what will be the Raiders’ final home match of the season.
“With Kapa‘a, the last two times they played us they played well. We have to find a way to keep the intensity,” Carvalho said.
“Oh, man, tough one to lose again,” said Kapa‘a Head Coach Matt Gonsalves. “I’m proud of the way our boys fought tonight.
“I think it’s just the little things that keep us from winning matches. It was a fun match to be a part of, until the end at least,” said Gonsalves.
In junior-varsity play, Kaua‘i swept Kapa‘a, 25-17, 25-17 and 26-24.
Paul C. Curtis, sports writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 237) or pcurtis@kauaipubco.com
