PUHI — Waimea High kept its record clean and Kaua‘i High marked a big game against Island School Friday night when the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation opened its second half of the first round of girls volleyball at the Bernice Hundley Gym in Kapa‘a and Wilcox Gymnasium on the Island School campus in Puhi.
The Menehune, playing before a live-streamed Skycam in Kapa‘a, split its series, with the junior varsity squad dropping to the JV Lady Warriors, 22-25, 25-23 and 14-25.
Under the seasoned coaching of Brandi Hori Moises and staff, the Waimea varsity girls picked up their fourth win on the season by holding off Kapa‘a, 25-19, 25-14 and 25-12.
Kaua‘i High, entering the Wilcox Gymnasium that was packed with an audience reminiscent of pre-COVID-19 days, redeemed its loss to the Lady Voyagers by splitting its series, the JV Voyagers taking a solid 25-15, 25-5 and 25-17 win over the JV Red Raiders.
The Raider varsity ladies entered the fray peppered with enthusiastic support from both gold-and-blue shirts and red shirts under the confident hand of newly installed head coach Shyanne “Shy” Sadora and her staff of five assistant coaches.
The new leadership did not disappoint the redshirted fans, turning forlorn looks from the JV sting into smiles after holding off the Lady Voyagers, 25-18, 25-21 and 25-15.
“Yes, this is only my second game as the head coach,” Sadora said. “And it’s a win! These are dynamic girls, and I trust them out there. Trust is something the girls are learning, too. They are trusting each other to do their jobs. That way, they can do their own jobs and pick up on each other. We need to keep doing this — building trust — keep bringing the girls together.”
Sadora was visibly present, flitting the line of Red Raiders and stopping to coach individual players while watching the Voyager warmups.
This played out on the court, as Kaua‘i pulled out of a 7-9 first-set hole to force Voyager errors and take control on hits from Nahe Bukoski and Elise Yukimura, a block from Gianna Lewis and an ace from Jaclyn Oshiro, who served up a string of unanswered points for the 23-16 Kaua‘i bulge before Yukimura’s slam put the set to bed, 25-18.
The Lady Voyagers responded in the second set by forcing five ties, and moved ahead 7-6 on a Samantha Brown block, getting help from aa Ema-Lani Ebesu ace, and hits from Mary Magoun and Bentley Burger.
Kaua‘i capitalized on Voyager court miscues to pull ahead on hits from Mikayla Alonzo and Yukimura before Island School knotted the set, 14-14 on hits from Magoun and Brown.
A Red Raider block by Lewis broke the lead exchange to kept Kaua‘i in the driver’s seat before Bukoshi sealed the set, 25-21.
With the victory, Sadora and her Lady Red Raiders face a big test Tuesday when they traavel to the Clem Gomes Gym to meet Waimea for a re-match following its loss at home on the teams’ first meeting. Island School will host Kapa‘a.
The first serves in the JV contests are at 5 p.m. with the varsity contests to follow.
There are no walk-up ticket sales available, and COVID-19 rules, including wearing face masks and social distancing, are adhered to.
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
