WAIMEA — The Kaua‘i High School Red Raiders looked to even up the standings as it headed into Waimea to take on the Menehune Saturday night at the Waimea High School Gym. Unfortunately for Kaua‘i, the team ran into the
WAIMEA — The Kaua‘i High School Red Raiders looked to even up the standings as it headed into Waimea to take on the Menehune Saturday night at the Waimea High School Gym. Unfortunately for Kaua‘i, the team ran into the undefeated Waimea Menehune and the Menehune did as it has done all season, which is take down its opponent in straight sets, 25-19, 25-21 and 25-23 to stay at an undefeated 4-0 on the season.
Although the Menehune won in straight sets, all of the sets were tightly contested.
Through most of the first set, the two teams would remain within a point of each other until the score reached an even 16 all. From there a couple of unforced errors and a pair of crucial kills by Waimea’s Mariyah Oliver would see Waimea take the commanding 20-16 lead. The Red Raiders would continue to battle and come out on the winning side of a couple of nice rallies, however, yet another kill from Oliver would seal the 25-19 win in favor of the Menehune.
The second set would see the Red Raiders take an early commanding lead of 8-3, which was aided by solid play from Kawehi Louis-Diamond, Kristle Henry and Adrienne Graycochea. Unfortunately for Kaua‘i, the Menehune would quickly turn things around at the net with the next six points going to Waimea by way of a kill or block. Oliver contributed to three of those points with two kills and a block. Both Kawena Warren and Leiana Alejandro would get in on the action adding a kill of their own to give the Menehune a 9-8 lead.
The set would remain close, with Kaua‘i getting a couple of huge blocks from Gilian Gregorio to keep the game at a close 22-21 in favor of Waimea. The Menehune would go on to take the last three points of the set, including a kill from Warren that would give Waimea the 2-0 lead heading into set number three.
The third and final set saw the Red Raiders come out a bit sloppy committing its share of unforced errors. The sloppy play combined with fantastic serving from Waimea would give the Menehune a 16-10 lead. Kaua‘i would attempt to battle back off of more solid play at the net from Henry, who also had an excellent service day as well, which would get the score as close 23-22. For the Red Raiders unforced errors became an issue once more, which would give Waimea the final two points it needed to close out Kaua‘i, 25-23 and the 3-0 win.
With the loss the Red Raiders fall to 2-2 on the season, with its next game coming on Tuesday against the Kapa‘a Warriors at the Kaua‘i High School Gym at 6:30 p.m.
The win takes Waimea to 4-0, with a commanding hold on first place. The Menehune prepare to take on the Island School Voyagers Tuesday in Waimea at 6:30 p.m.
In junior varsity action the Red Raiders took on the Waimea Menehune, which ended 25-14, 25-9 and 26-24 with Kaua‘i taking the first two sets but dropping the third to the Menehune.
At Island School, the Voyagers took on the Kapa‘a Warriors Saturday night. After dropping its first set 17-25, the Warriors would eventually come back to win the final three sets of the match, 25-15, 25-14 and 25-19, giving the Warriors the win.
In the junior varsity match Kapa‘a won in three straight over Island School, 25-7, 25-6 and 25-14.
