KAPA‘A — Kaua‘i High School girls volleyball picked up its second win of the season, and Waimea High School girls volleyball suffered its first season loss, Tuesday night during the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation girls volleyball games contested at the Clem Gomes Gym in Waimea and the Bernice Hundley Gym in Kapa‘a.
“Friday night was the Kaua‘i girls’ first win of the season,” said Bronson Bautista of the Red Raider coaching staff. “The girls from all of the schools are getting better each game, so we’ll have a lot more exciting games ahead.”
Both varsity winning squads — Kaua‘i High and Island School — survived marathon, five-set matches on the road, Island School winning 3-2 — 20-25, 25-14, 25-27, 25-9 and 16-14 over the Menehune. According to the Waimea scorekeeper, just seven players suited up.
Over at the Bernice Hundley Gym, Kaua‘i High battled Kapa‘a to a 3-2 edge — 17-25, 21-25, 28-26, 25-17 and 18-16, having to come back against the Lady Warriors after dropping the first two sets in the crowded gym.
Down two sets and trailing by as much as six points in the third set, Kaua‘i High turned the tables when Makenzie Nii served up a pair of points peppered with back-to-back hammers from Elise Yukimura to pull Kaua‘i to within one, 20-21.
Norma Tuulangavalu, sharing strong middle duty with Olivia Malafu for Kapa‘a, hammered back to 20-22 before Kaua‘i High’s Makayla Alonzo took the service block, and with a service ace put Kaua‘i up 23-22.
Kapa‘a answered with a Kanoe Haneberg bang to knot the contest 23-23, and a net violation against the Raiders put the Warriors up, 24-23. Hits from Yukimura and Edyn Naka‘ahiki put Kaua‘i High up, 25-24. The seesaw continued with a Kaua‘i High hitting error putting the Lady Warriors up 26-25 before a Kapa‘a service error tied the contest, 26-26. A Kapa‘a hitting and passing error forced the fourth set.
Both teams battled through the fourth set before Kaua‘i High’s Keira Caoagas served up a string of six unanswered points peppered with a Jaclyn Oshiro hit from the back to take a 20-11 lead. Naka‘ahiki closed the door at 25-17 on an outside hit to force the fifth set.
Both teams exchanged points until Caoagas whacked one and followed with an ace to pull Kaua‘i up, 10-7. Kapa‘a’s Kyla Hopton answered with a hit and took the service block for a string of six unanswered points to lead the contest, 15-14.
Kaua‘i High’s Shania Kelley answered with a hit to knot the contest, 15-15, but the Raiders suffered a service error, 15-16, before Nii took the service to close the door on back-to-back aces.
On the junior varsity courts, the JV Menehune were 3-0 winners over Island School, 27-13, 25-22 and 26-24, while in Kapa‘a the JV Lady Warriors improved to 7-0 on the season with a three-set win over the JV Red Raiders, 25-15, 25-27 and 25-16.
KIF girls volleyball continues Friday when Waimea takes on Kaua‘i High at the Kaua‘i High gym and Kapa‘a comes to visit Island School at the Wilcox Gymnasium in Puhi. The JV contests at both sites serve up from 5:30 p.m., with the varsity contests starting 25 minutes following the completion of the JV games.
