LIHU‘E — The rain soaking Kaua‘i on Tuesday night, April 18 did not deter any of the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation boys volleyball games that took place at Clem Gomes Gym in Waimea and Kaua‘i High, where spectators were worried about getting their white socks wet from the running water and falling raindrops.
“I just came from Waimea, and it’s a lot drier than here,” said Gary Sato, an Island School coach with the girls volleyball program who came to Kaua‘i High to watch Island School, the defending KIF boys volleyball champions, play Kaua‘i High.
On the junior varsity courts, the Island School squad dropped three sets to the JV Red Raiders, 23-25, 19-25, and 11-15 despite an interruption for equipment repair when the JV Voyagers were holding a 21-19 lead over the Red Raiders.
Out in Waimea, the JV Menehune were 25-14, 25-22, and 16-14 winners over Kapa‘a’s JV team.
The varsity Warriors softened the sting of defeat by claiming the first two sets of their contest against Waimea before dropping the next three sets. The Menehune claimed the night, 24-26, 22-25, 25-15, 25-20 and 15-11.
Island School had its hands full against Kaua‘i High, taking four sets to claim its 3-1 victory, 23-25, 25-19, 25-19 and 25-13.
The Red Raiders came from an early 4-2 hole in the opening set and traded points with the Voyagers after knotting the contest at 4-4.
Syrus Delos Reyes and Noah Louis fueled the Red Raiders fire. That was until a Louis bang put the Raiders up 14-12 when the Voyagers first showed its go-to Bodhi Jones, who despite point-setting back-to-back bangs still had the Voyagers looking at a 19-16 hole. The Jones and Louis hit-a-thon continued, until Louis whacked back-to-back hammers to seal Kaua‘i High’s set, 25-23.
The loss shook up the Voyagers bench, which introduced a new face, Rocco Sand, to the fray of heavy hitters. The addition to the Voyagers combination on the floor was something that provided Island School the edge to hold off Kaua‘i High’s challenge.
The next KIF boys volleyball matches take place Saturday, April 22, 2023, due to the championship track and field events that will be held on Thursday and Friday nights, April 20 and 21, 2023.
On Saturday, Kapa‘a will visit Kaua‘i High. The Menehune make their way to the Wilcox Gymnasium to take on Island School in Puhi, as the KIF enters its final week of boys volleyball. The first serves for the JV games go off at 5 p.m. at both sites, with the varsity contests following, but not starting earlier than 6:30 p.m.
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 808-245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
