KAPA‘A — If the Kapa‘a Warriors were tired while playing their fourth match in five days, they didn’t show it, but the Kaua‘i Red Raiders still ended Kapa‘a’s four-match win streak with a thrilling 21-25, 25-22, 20-25, 25-23, 15-13 win,
KAPA‘A — If the Kapa‘a Warriors were tired while playing their fourth match in five days, they didn’t show it, but the Kaua‘i Red Raiders still ended Kapa‘a’s four-match win streak with a thrilling 21-25, 25-22, 20-25, 25-23, 15-13 win, Wednesday night at the Bernice Hundley Gym in Kapa‘a.
After falling to the Warriors in the playoff matchup Monday night, the Raiders got some revenge by winning their Round 2 opener in five sets, recovering from a 2-1 deficit and gutting out the victory.
Austin Simao led Kaua‘i with 11 kills, followed by Lucas Riley’s 10. Riley came up huge in the deciding set, putting away five kills to keep his team in the driver’s seat.
Tyren Hasegawa had 17 assists for the Raiders, while Austine Acorda added 15.
Stephen Greenleaf had 14 kills for Kapa‘a. Rui Yap had 10 and Sean Shigematsu had nine.
Shigematsu also tallied 10 blocks, while Hunter Hudson had six digs.
The Warriors came out with a comeback win in the opening set, trailing 14-9 after a Kaleo Tin ace, but stormed back to take a 19-18 lead. With three set points in hand at 24-21, the Warriors forced a Raiders miscue to take the 1-0 lead in the match.
Kaua‘i came out fast again and another Tin ace put his team up 8-4. Though Kapa‘a stayed within striking distance through the middle stages of the set, it never held a lead.
With a 24-22 advantage, Hasegawa fed Riley for the kill, evening the match at a set apiece.
The third set was controlled mostly by the Warriors, who maintained a four to five-point lead throughout, then garnered six set points at 24-18. They needed three of them, but Kekoa Colipano fed Greenleaf for the powerful finish and the Warriors were a set away from their fifth consecutive victory.
The Raiders had other plans and the fourth set was tight the whole way, until Kaua‘i used a 7-0 run to grab a 20-15 lead. It seemed destined for a fifth set when Kaua‘i led 24-20, but Kapa‘a saved three straight set points and got within one, only to see a service error end the rally and force the decider.
The teams battled in the fifth, until Kaua‘i took a three-point edge at 10-7, but a Yap ace got the Warriors back within one at 11-10.
Hasegawa fed Silas Gerardo for a kill and two set points at 14-12. After one miscue on a kill chance, Riley ended the evening with a finish off an Acorda feed to move to 1-0 in the season’s second round (5-3 on the season, including playoff).
In the evening’s other varsity matchup, the Island School Voyagers gave the Waimea Menehune all they could handle but came up just short as Waimea notched a 23-25, 25-20, 22-25, 25-11, 15-8 victory to jump to 1-0 in Round 2.
In the junior varsity matches, Kapa‘a’s victory continued the night’s trend of thrilling encounters with a 24-26, 26-24, 26-24 win over Kaua‘i.
Back at Island School, Waimea was a 25-12, 25-16, 25-19 victor over the Voyagers.
Matches continue Saturday as Kaua‘i hosts Waimea and Kapa‘a hosts Island School. Both will start with JV at 5 p.m., followed by varsity no earlier than 6:30 p.m.
