KAPA‘A — What basically amounted to three straight sudden-death matches for the Kapa‘a Warriors boys volleyball team proved to be an obstacle it was able to overcome, finishing the journey with a 25-19, 23-25, 25-20, 25-17 win over the Waimea Menehune to claim the KIF first-round championship, Tuesday night at the Bernice Hundley Gym in Kapa‘a.
The Warriors went into the first half’s final regular season contest a game back of Waimea in the standings, but pulled off the road victory to force a three-way playoff along with the Kaua‘i Red Raiders.
Kapa‘a knocked off Kaua‘i in the first playoff matchup Monday, then topped Waimea to complete the charge up the standings and put itself in position for a KIF championship.
Rui Yap put up a team-high 11 kills for the Warriors. Yap’s wicked left-handed serve was a factor, yet again, as he finished up with five aces — four coming in the opening set.
Big man Sean Shigematsu led his squad with 11 blocks, also adding eight kills. He finished off each of the final two sets with blocks on the final point.
Kekoa Colipano dished out 18 assists. He also notched four kills, four blocks and two aces.
Waimea was led by David Kaohelaulii and his match-high 18 kills.
Kevin Killerman had eight kills on the night, along with six blocks.
Chase Parongao was resourceful as usual, hitting the hardwood a number of times for some stellar digs. He ended the match with nine.
Kaili Lagundino had eight kills, five digs and two blocks.
The opening set was back and forth through its first half, with the teams trading small leads. With the score tied at 12-12, Yap took the service and made the most of it. The Warriors piled up nine straight points, including four Yap aces, to pull away by a sizeable margin.
Waimea cut the deficit to four at 22-18, but with five set points in hand, Kapa‘a finished off the first with a kill from Matt Domingcil off a Tyrus Moises feed to grab the 1-0 lead in the match.
The second set was again extremely close throughout, before Waimea created the largest lead for either squad at 19-15, but Kapa‘a evened the set back up at 22-22.
Holding a 24-23 advantage, Waimea evened the match as Casen Kaohelaulii tallied the winning kill.
Knotted at 8-8 in the third, Kapa‘a went on an 8-1 run, including two Colipano aces, to run out to a 16-9 lead.
The Menehune continued to fight back, but could never get within striking distance. Holding a 24-20 lead, Shigematsu held his ground at the net and rejected a kill attempt for the winning block and a 2-1 match lead.
What turned out to be the final set played out similarly, with Kapa‘a maintaining a small lead that Waimea was unable to overcome. Leading 17-14, the Warriors took control and a 7-2 run gave them eight match points.
It only took two, as Shigematsu again turned back a Menehune shot to seal the deal and hand the Warriors the first-round title.
Kapa‘a now sits at 6-2 on the season (including 2-0 in the playoff) and will be on the court again today to start Round 2 with a match against the Red Raiders. That match will be back at Kapa‘a with the JV getting things started at 5 p.m.
The Menehune will be on the road again, visiting the Island School Gym to face the Voyagers with the same timetable.
