LIHU‘E — The scenarios were plentiful entering the night’s contests, which were the final two matches of the regular season. Two teams were tied atop the standings, either one with an opportunity to get to the championship match, the pair
LIHU‘E — The scenarios were plentiful entering the night’s contests, which were the final two matches of the regular season. Two teams were tied atop the standings, either one with an opportunity to get to the championship match, the pair possibly set to face off in a second-round playoff.
When both were completed, the Waimea Menehune had pulled off a road win, while the Kapa‘a Warriors dropped their finale, meaning the Menehune had claimed the second-round title and clinched their spot in the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation championship.
Heading into the Raider Dome on Senior Night, Waimea exited with a 3-1 victory by scores of 25-19, 17-25, 25-22, 25-20.
In Puhi, the Island School Voyagers pulled off a 3-1 victory of their own over Kapa‘a, by scores of 18-25, 25-23, 25-23, 25-19.
The combination gives Waimea the second-round title with a 5-1 record. The loss dropped Kapa‘a into second place at 4-2.
The first-round champion Kaua‘i Red Raiders close at 2-4, while Island School, which had been knocking on the door all round, goes 1-5 in the second half.
Kaua‘i and Waimea will now play one more time to determine the KIF champion, who will head to the New City Nissan HHSAA Volleyball Championships on O‘ahu, May 12 to 14.
Winning the coin flip following Friday night’s match, Kaua‘i will host Waimea on Tuesday night, starting at 7 p.m.
It has been a familiar sight in recent weeks, as the two schools have also faced off for KIF titles in baseball and softball, splitting those contests.
The front line trio of Kalen McCracken, Kaili Schumacher-Lagundino and Kevin Killerman propelled the Menehune by finishing off the majority of Waimea points.
McCracken finished the night with 19 kills and six blocks. Schumacher-Lagundino had 12 kills and 3.5 blocks, while Killerman had 10 kills and 2.5 blocks.
Devan Banasihan-Kenney kept many points alive, coming up with 11 digs on Waimea’s back line.
Setter Jonathon Tangalin had a match-high 31 assists, as well as 2.5 blocks. Koa Yamamoto added 3.5 blocks for the Menehune.
Kaua‘i’s Donovan Harrison had 15 kills and five blocks, both team highs.
Dane Bautista finished off nine kills, while Blaise Ferguson had seven.
Archie Vallatini had five kills, while Kevin Reyes had four digs. Setter Jon Butac had 27 assists, as well as three aces, 2.5 blocks and two kills.
Coming off the emotion of Senior Night introductions, the Red Raiders ran out to a 7-2 lead in the first set. The Menehune weathered that initial storm and used a 9-0 run to take a 13-9 lead. Waimea put together another 7-0 run to take command, 20-11.
Tangalin and McCracken were combining on low passes for quick spikes, catching the Raiders off-guard. Kaua‘i was caught in a rotation with Harrison in the back row, unable to utilize his strong finishing abilities.
Killerman notched his first kill to give Waimea six set points at 24-18. Two points later, Yamamoto and Mark Kanahele combined on a dual block to end the set and give Waimea the 1-0 advantage.
The Raiders responded in the second set, using a 9-2 run to take a 19-11 lead. They held that margin for the remainder and got four kills apiece from Ferguson and Bautista, leveling things at 1-1 on a Harrison spike.
Set three was close the whole way through, as Tangalin and Yamamoto combined on a block to tie things up at 21-21. Up 23-22, Schumacher-Lagundino finished off a Tangalin feed to grab a pair of set points. The duo teamed up again the next point to put Waimea up 2-1 in the match.
Clinging to a 21-20 lead in the fourth, Waimea closed it out in style with four straight points, the final two coming on Kaua‘i errors.
The win for Waimea assured it at least a spot in a second-round playoff, but the Kapa‘a loss gave the Menehune the direct route to the KIF title match.
In the night’s junior varsity matches, Kaua‘i was a 2-1 winner over Waimea (25-22, 25-21, 20-25), while Kapa‘a took a 3-0 sweep over Island School (25-22, 25-18, 25-18).
