LIHU‘E — Kapa‘a High School opened the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation girls volleyball season on a winning note by taking both the junior varsity and varsity series over host Kaua‘i High Tuesday night before an audience that was supportive of both sides of the net.
The JV Lady Warriors swept all three of their sets, 25-11, 25-13 and 25-12 over the JV Red Raiders. The Lady Warrior varsity wahine held off a strong Red Raider challenge to finish the best-of-five series, 25-19, 25-23 and 25-15.
No scores or game details were available from the Island School Wilcox Gymnasium, where the Voyagers hosted the Waimea High School Menehune Tuesday to round out the four-team league.
“We’re a young team, and the girls have been working really hard,” said Tori Tuttle, the Kapa‘a coach, following their three-set win at Kaua‘i High. “They did have their share of errors — call it opening-night jitters — but they tried to recover quickly. We just told them to take care of our side of the court. The win gives the girls a lot of confidence, and for the new girls having their first time on the floor, it shows them that we can win.”
Opening-night jitters took a toll on Kaua‘i High, which who pulled out to a 7-4 bulge in the first set before the Warriors capitalized on Red Raider errors. Kaua‘i stayed close, and tied the set at least four times before Kapa‘a shut the door on a pair of two-touch miscues by Kaua‘i.
During the second set, Kaua‘i faced the same scenario, enjoying a 7-3 go-ahead behind service points from Elise Yukimura before Kapa‘a came back to knot the game at 8-8. The Red Raiders pulled ahead 17-10 by capitalizing on court miscues from Kapa‘a.
But the Warrior ladies wouldn’t go down and Kailee Baltazar served up a string of seven unanswered points, punctuated with hits from Olivia Jenkins, followed by a Yukimura ace to deadlock the set, 17-17.
Trailing 17-20, Kapa‘a’s Toni Jordyn Umalla came alive in the service box with another string of seven unanswered points, again punctuated with hits from Jenkins, Kyla Hopton and an Umalla ace for the 23-20 go-ahead.
Kaua‘i would not roll over, and answered by knotting the contest, 23-23, capitalizing on Kapa‘a miscues.
But a pair of passing errors by Kaua‘i ended the threat of forcing the game to at least four sets.
Kapa‘a controlled the final set behind strong performances from Tiare Regina Morita, Baltazar and Jenkins in the service block for the 25-15 final.
The next KIF girls volleyball games will serve up Friday when Kaua‘i High travels to Clem Gomes Gym to face Waimea High, and the Island School Voyagers make the trek to the Bernice Hundley Gym to face Kapa‘a High.
The junior varsity contests at both sites serve up at 5 p.m., with the varsity contests serving up 25 minutes following JV play.
Tickets are online only at ticketspicket.com.
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 808-245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
