LIHU‘E — The Island School Voyagers and the Kapa‘a High School Warriors needed four sets to secure wins Friday night during the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation boys volleyball games.
The Warriors traveled to the Clem Gomes Gym in Waimea to take the Menehune in four sets, 25-19, 19-25, 25-22 and 25-19. The win improves the Warriors to 4-4. Results of the junior varsity contest were not available at press time.
Over at the Kaua‘i High School gym, the contests were delayed due to the traffic accident outside of Anahola, preventing Voyager players to get to the gym in time for the scheduled start.
That limited the JV play to best-of-three format with Kaua‘i High School taking the first two matches, 25-16 and 25-17.
The varsity Voyagers retained their lead spot in the KIF standings by overcoming a shaky second set and holding off a strong Red Raider effort in the third and fourth sets. Island School left the Red Raider gym victorious, 25-22, 25-18, 24-26 and 26-24.
Recovering from the sting of defeat to Waimea Tuesday night, the Voyagers took command of the opening set and held the lead throughout the match, while Kaua‘i High’s boys stumbled through miscues and service errors.
Voyager Michael Fitzgerald aced the first point of the second set only to have Kaua‘i High’s blocking knot the contest. But the errors plagued Kaua‘i High, and the Voyagers claimed the win on strong hitting from Mark Fitzgerald and Josh Dobashi until a Kaua‘i High net violation put away the contest.
Trailing through most of the third set, Kaua‘i High stayed close on hitting from Syrus Delos Reyes, Ernesto Alcones and a Noah Louis, notching the first Raider point in the set with a block, knotting the contest at 19-19. The Voyagers surged forward on a Mark Fitzgeald whack and a Raider hitting error before a Voyager net violation knotted the contest, 20-20.
A Voyager lift violation and a Raider hitting error knotted the contest at 24-24 before Alcones put away the contest on back-to-back solid blocks.
The two blocks triggered the Kaua‘i High momentum into the fourth set when Kaua‘i High pulled to within a digit on a Tyrus Duran whack, and an Island School service error gave Kaua‘i High a 15-13 advantage. Back-to-back whacks from Delos Reyes had the Raiders on a 17-14 lead before Dobashi forced the side. Raider hits from Delos Reyes and Duran kept the Raiders in the contest along with a Voyager hitting error. Dobashi and Mark Fitzgerald kept the Voyagers close until a Kaua‘i hitting error deflated the momentum on a 22-22 tie.
An Island School service error and a Delos Reyes whack had Kaua‘i High up, 24-22, until Island School answered with hits from Dobashi and Mark Fitzgerald knotting the set, 24-24. From that point, back-to-back conks from Mark Fitzgerald put the game away.
The KIF enters its final week of play Tuesday when the Menehune come to visit the Kaua‘i High gym and the Warriors come to the Wilcox Gymnasium in Puhi against Island School. The JV contests serve up from 5 p.m. followed by the varsity contest starting no earlier than 6:30 p.m.
