LIHU‘E — With the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation entering its final week of boys volleyball play, the Island School junior varsity squad lost its series 3-0 to Waimea High, and Kaua‘i High got past the Kapa‘a Warriors 2-1 on Saturday.
The contests were rescheduled due to the KIF track and field finals taking place Friday at Vidinha Stadium in Lihu‘e.
In varsity play at Kaua‘i High, the Red Raiders prevailed over the Warriors, 25-23, 26-24 and 27-25, with the extra point results testifying to the tight competition between the teams.
Over at the Wilcox Gymnasium on the Island School campus in Puhi, the varsity Voyagers outlasted the Menehune 25-20, 25-17 and 25-20, to improve with the lead in the KIF second round with just one loss.
The Menehune, entering the match with no losses, drop to tie the Voyagers with a one-loss record in the second round with two games remaining.
Varsity Voyagers were aware of the pivotal nature of the Saturday night matchup, and quickly built a 10-3 lead over Waimea behind solid hitting from Bodhi Jones and Michael Fitzgerald and a nice middle block.
Waimea answered with hits from David “Kaio” Tsuchiya and Josiah “Jojo” Banasihan and some help from Island School infractions to pull to within six points on a string of service points from Haweo Akeo, 14-20.
The drive stalled, and then the Voyagers put away the set on back-to-back Menehune miscues.
More of the same continued in the second set, where the Voyagers wrapped up a 25-17 win.
In the third set, Waimea took the lead for the first time in the night following a string of service points to a 11-7 lead that was spiced with hits from Kelani Lewis, Akeo and Banasihan. Island School responded to bring the set to a 12-12 stalemate behind a string of points from Michael Fitzgerald from the service block, assisted by a trio of Menehune errors.
Facing a 16-17 deficit, the Voyagers broke away on three points served up by Jones, a pair from Mark Fitzgerald in the service block, and Michael Fitzgerald serving up another trio of points as the door closed on a Menehune error.
With the win, Island School next visits Kapa‘a on Tuesday at Bernice Hundley Gym. Kaua‘i High will make the trek to Clem Gomes Gym to face Waimea. The JV games start at 5 p.m. at both sites, followed by the varsity contests starting no earlier than 6:30 p.m.
