LIHU‘E — A match that encapsulated the 2010 KIF girls volleyball season ended with the Waimea Lady Menehune in a celebratory pile after clinching the league title with a five-set win over the Kaua‘i Raider Wahine, Monday night at Kaua‘i
LIHU‘E — A match that encapsulated the 2010 KIF girls volleyball season ended with the Waimea Lady Menehune in a celebratory pile after clinching the league title with a five-set win over the Kaua‘i Raider Wahine, Monday night at Kaua‘i High School.
Waimea came back from a 2-1 deficit to notch the 25-19, 22-25, 20-25, 25-10, 16-14 win in front of a jam-packed and vocal crowd.
Mariah Oliver sent the Menehune to the state tournament as she put back a solo block for a kill on Waimea’s first and only match point of the night.
Waimea took an early 4-1 lead in the fifth set, only to seen Kaua‘i knot it up at 8-8 when a Waileia Kanealii serve had just enough juice to trickle over the net for an ace.
The teams went back and forth for the rest of the set with Kaua‘i taking its first lead at 14-13 on a Shyanne Sadora kill from Kanealii.
The Raiders had a match point to send the season to one final championship contest, but a kill attempt on the sideline never made it to the Waimea half and the teams were tied up again at 14-14.
Jayme Jacinto gave Waimea the 15-14 lead by finishing off a kill from setter Searra Kaohi, leading to Oliver’s final winner.
Jacinto was her team’s leading scorer with 17 kills to go with three blocks and six digs.
Brandee Victorino played a huge match up front, finishing with 12 kills and 15.5 blocks.
Tatiana Rita notched 10 kills, five digs and two blocks. Oliver had eight kills to go with 15 blocks. Robin Moura had seven kills and 3.5 blocks.
Fiarre Moe had 16 assists and five digs, while Kaohi finished with 15 assists. Jazzy Bradbury added six blocks, while Vakeesha Lagazo tallied nine digs and an ace.
Malia Kagawa had a match-high 18 kills for Kaua‘i, adding 2.5 blocks and an ace.
Sadora put up big numbers, finishing with 14 kills and 10 blocks, plus three aces.
Reanna Javinar put away plenty of points from the center position at net with 13 kills and seven blocks. Teal Basquez had five kills with three blocks and three digs.
Kanealii led all players with 40 assists, plus six kills, five aces and five digs. Libero Noe Tamashiro had nine digs, while Saryna Garcia had five.
Kaua‘i (9-4) was looking for its second straight victory over Waimea (12-1) after not having beaten the Lady Menehune for the past two seasons. The Raiders fought back from an early hole after Waimea took the opening set, 25-19. It was a Rita kill off a Kaohi set that sent Waimea to the 1-0 lead.
Jacinto had four kills in the set, followed by Moura’s three.
Waimea then jumped out to an 11-6 lead in the second set before Kaua‘i used a 7-1 run to gain a 13-12 lead. The Menehune then appeared to take command once again, going up by three at 21-18.
But back-to-back kills from Basquez capped a 4-0 run to put the Raiders back up 22-21. Sadora had a winner on a Kanealii set to grab two set points at 24-22, with Waimea then hitting a kill attempt wide to level the match at 1-1.
Sadora and Kagawa had six and five kills, respectively, to lead Kaua‘i. Kanealii had 13 assists in the frame.
Three early aces — one apiece for Kanealii, Sadora and Kagawa — forced a timeout by Waimea, which trailed 11-4 in the third. The Lady Menehune got back within four at 21-17, but after failing to convert two set points, the Raiders finished it on the third when Kagawa slammed home a kill after one of the longest points of the night.
She led all players with six kills in the set, while Sadora and Javinar followed with five and three, respectively.
Trailing 2-1, Waimea re-focused and took command of the fourth set from the beginning, then used a 12-2 run to run out to a 20-8 lead. Kaua‘i appeared ready to concede the set and get ready for the tiebreaker, missing with a kill to hand Waimea the one-sided 25-10 frame.
The Lady Menehune spread the wealth in the fourth, with Jacinto, Victorino and Rita all collecting three kills. Victorino also notched 4.5 blocks.
Waimea will now once again represent the KIF at the HHSAA girls volleyball championship tournament, slated for Oct. 27-30 on O‘ahu.
