LIHU‘E — A night that seemed headed for a matter-of-fact victory for the Kaua‘i Red Raiders turned on its head as the shorthanded Kapa‘a Warriors made a remarkable comeback, coming away with a 16-25, 20-25, 26-24, 26-24, 16-14 win, Saturday night at the Kaua‘i High School gym.
The Warriors improved to 2-2 in the second round and kept themselves in the mix for an outright KIF title as first-round champs.
The Raiders fall to 3-1 in the second round, missing out on an opportunity to take a commanding lead in the standings.
The fifth and final set was a microcosm of the match, as the Raiders jumped out to a 6-3 lead, before the Warriors rallied for an 8-2 run and an 11-8 lead to force a Kaua‘i timeout.
Two points from defeat at 11-13, the Raiders got kills from Austin Simao and Cody Morden to even things up once again. Sean Shigematsu gave Kapa‘a a match point with a kill off a Weston Moniz feed, but Kaua‘i saved it on a Silas Gerardo finish from Tyren Hasegawa.
A Raiders service error gave the Warriors their second match point, which they were able to finish after one of the longest rallies of the match, featuring three spectacular Raider digs. But Kaua‘i ultimately put up an error to end the match and send the Kapa‘a bench leaping to the court.
Shigematsu and Matt Domingcil led the Warriors with 10 kills apiece, while Stephen Greenleaf added nine and Austin Delos Santos had five.
Shigematsu also led the way with nine blocks, followed by Domingcil’s seven.
Tyrus Moises had 15 assists for Kapa‘a and Moniz finished up with 14.
Sage Lane and Hunter Hudson had four digs apiece.
The Raiders were led by 13 kills from Simao, while Lucas Riley had 11. Silas Gerardo, Pono Cummings and Hasegawa all had nine apiece.
Gerardo had a match-high 14 digs, while Hasegawa had 20 assists.
Holding a two-set lead with the third set tied at 22-22, Simao slammed an ace for a one-point lead, two points from the match. But Kapa‘a rallied to score the next two points, ultimately winning the set and keeping its hopes alive.
The fourth set was extremely tight as Kapa‘a matched its largest lead of three at 23-20 before Kaua‘i scored the next three points, capped by a Mason Hirahara ace to tie it. The Warriors gained a set point at 25-24 and a long point ended with Shigematsu spiking a Moniz feed to head to the rubber match.
The Waimea Menehune moved their record to 3-1 in the second round with a straight-set win over the Island School Voyagers in Waimea. The final score, 25-16, 25-21, 26-24, puts Waimea in a first-place tie with the Raiders in the second half. Island School moves to 0-4 with the loss.
In JV action at Kaua‘i High, the Raiders notched a 2-0 victory over the Warriors, 25-8, 25-13, then taking the exhibition set by a 25-18 score.
Waimea JV picked up a 25-8, 25-16 win of its own over Island, then grabbing the exhibition set, 25-17.
The teams are back on the floor in two crucial Wednesday matches as Waimea will host Kaua‘i with JV taking the floor at 5 p.m., followed by varsity at 6:30 p.m.
Kapa‘a will be trying to capitalize on its momentum with a road date at Island School using the same time schedule.
