KAPAA — The jubilation of winning in straight sets was akin to taking a title match, Saturday at the Kauai Interscholastic Federation girls volleyball match at the Bernice Hundley Gym in Kapaa.
The hosting Lady Warrior volleyball team dropped it Junior Varsity matches 2-1 — 25-13, 26-28, and 10-25 — before its varsity crew emerged from a defensive slugfest in straight sets — 26-24, 25-23, and 25-19 — before a supportive crowd on both sides of the net who never hinted of “the Brawl taking place at the Wilcox Gymnasium.”
“I feel a lot better than I did, Wednesday in Waimea,” said Kapaa coach Ari Logan. “This was a very pleasant night, and I’m so proud of how our girls did, tonight. This is the first time they came together as a team. We made a lot of substitutions to stay in the game, and I’m happy that our subs stepped up play. Tonight, they were ready to play.”
Kapaa came back from an 8-9 deficit in the opening set to pull ahead 12-10 on hits by Lani Alo and Chelsea Schneider, getting help from technical errors to the Red Raider ladies.
This set the stage for the remainder of the tight game as Kauai was in catch-up by as much as seven digits.
Facing a 13-20 hole, Kauai went to a hammer from the back row and whacks from Waileia Edwards to pull to within four, 16-20 before a hitting miscue gave Kapaa a 23-20 edge. A Warrior technical error helped Kauai, and an ace from Edwards knotted the contest, 23-23. A passing error by Kapaa put the Raiders up, 24-23, but the Warriors dug deep and sealed the deal on a pair of whacks from Cory Anela Kilar, 28-26.
“I don’t know what to say,” said Kauai coach Kehau Regidor. “The girls had such a good match against Island School, Wednesday night — taking the lead in the first two sets and forcing Island School to come back. I just don’t know — perhaps, they needed to heal against that.”
The Red Raiders climbed out of a second set 0-6 hole, building slowly until Nahe Edwards entered the service block.
Facing an 8-14 deficit, Kauai clawed back when Nahe served up a string of nine unanswered points for a 16-14 lead — the first lead the Raiders enjoyed in the set. Included in the string, Nahe had a hit, Waileia hammered twice, and Kelsey Ortiz marked a pair of blocks to combine with technical errors assessed to Kapaa.
More defensive slugging before Kapaa broke from a 20-20 deadlock to seal the deal on a Kekaimalie Hunt hammer and a Warrior ace off the block.
“This was a great team effort,” Logan said. “We’re just moving forward from this point. This is the first time the girls have played the way we wanted them to from the start — they played selfless, they played for the team. We still have to prepare for what’s ahead — we host Island School, Wednesday.”
Kauai High School will host Waimea, Wednesday when the JV match serves up at 5 p.m. followed by the varsity contest.
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
