WAIMEA — The Waimea Lady Menehune have given themselves three opportunities to win the KIF championship after they came away with a 3-0 sweep of the Kapa‘a Lady Warriors, Tuesday night in Waimea.
On Senior Night, Waimea put together an impressive 25-21, 25-20, 25-16 win to clinch at least a tie for the second-round championship.
Still undefeated for the season, Waimea (11-0) is 5-0 in the second half and can clinch the league title with a win in the regular season finale against the Kaua‘i Red Raiders, Friday in Lihu‘e.
Kaua‘i (8-3) improved to 4-1 in the second half with a 3-0 win over Island School and now will need a win on Friday to force a second-round playoff.
The Raiders won their varsity match by a 25-14, 25-12, 25-19 final.
Essentially, Kaua‘i must beat Waimea three straight times to claim the KIF crown.
One win for Waimea in three opportunities will clinch its title.
The Lady Menehune put themselves in that position with the sweep on Tuesday, as seniors Brandee Victorino, Robin Moura, Fiare Moe, Brandi Chinen, Violetta Dunaway, Jazzy Bradbury, Jayme Jacinto, Searra Kaohi and Tatiana Rita were all honored before the match.
Jacinto led her side with 10 kills, four each in the first two sets and two in the finale.
Rita followed with nine kills and four digs, while Victorino tallied eight kills and nine blocks.
Moura put up seven kills and 2.5 blocks as Mariah Oliver had four kills and 2.5 blocks.
Moe finished with 17 assists and five digs, while Chinen led Waimea with five digs.
For Kapa‘a, Tylenn Morita continued to display her power game, notching 13 kills and three digs on the night.
Jessilyn Artaho-Aki had 15 assists to go with four kills and four digs.
Shannon Paleka and Marisa Sanchez-Dunning each had five digs.
Ciarra Wainwright finished with three kills and 4.5 blocks, while Tiore Daligcon also had 4.5 blocks.
Waimea jumped out to an early lead in the opening set and forced a Kapa‘a timeout at 13-4. Facing an 18-10 deficit, Kapa‘a rallied back to get within one as Daligcon had a block/kill to make it a 22-21 score.
However, the Lady Menehune put the set to bed with the next three points, capped off by a Jacinto kill for the 1-0 lead in the match.
Waimea won six of the first seven points in the second set, but Kapa‘a rallied and took a 10-9 lead on an Aki ace.
Kapa‘a’s largest lead came at 17-14, but a 7-2 Waimea rally netted it a 21-19 lead and forced the Warriors to talk things over.
The Lady Menehune again came up big in the decisive points and they took a 2-0 lead when a Kapa‘a short free ball found the net.
The third set remained tight until Waimea, holding a 14-13 advantage, rattled off an 8-1 run to seal the deal. The evening ended when a Vakeesha Lagazo serve never made it back to Waimea’s side.
In JV action earlier in the night, Kapa‘a took the first two sets against Waimea, 25-14 and 27-25, before Waimea won the third by a 27-25 score.
Island JV took the first set against Kaua‘i, 27-25, but the Raiders took the final two, 25-8, 25-18.
Friday will close out the regular season as Waimea visits Kaua‘i and Kapa‘a (3-8) plays at Island School (0-11).
