WAIMEA — Fans of Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation girls volleyball got their money’s worth on Tuesday when the Kaua‘i High School varsity squad earned its first win this season with a victory over Waimea at Clem Gomes Gym, while the Kapa‘a varsity wahine survived two extra-point sets to prevail over Island School in four sets at Bernice Hundley Gym.
Starting with a 2-1 win, 25-12, 12-25, and 25-13, on the junior varsity floor, the varsity Lady Warriors dropped the first set to the Lady Voyagers before coming back in the remaining three sets — 21-25, 26-24, 27-25 and 25-21 — to finish the night with a Kapa‘a sweep.
The Menehune were not as fortunate.
After sweeping the Kaua‘i High School JV squad — 25-13, 25-14, and 25-13, the varsity Menehune wobbled through momentum shifts to fall 3-2 (19-25, 23-25, 25-15, 25-22, and 13-15) to the varsity Lady Red Raiders, who needed five sets to claim its first season win with Coach Shy Sadora.
Waimea jumped onto the floor for its first season meeting against Kaua‘i, but were outdistanced by the redshirts who got solid hitting from Mikayla Alonzo, Keira Caoagas and Leila Caoagas.
Waimea responded with whacks from Ambriel Kanahele, Milana Schaefer, Kai Kai San Agustin, Kaylen Lewis and Kalia Yaris, but could not overtake the chase.
After dropping the first two sets, Waimea entered the third frame with renewed energy to build up a 10-6 lead behind solid whacks from San Agustin. They widened the gap when Schaefer served up seven unanswered points to establish a 21-10 gap before sealing the deal on back-to-back whacks from Kanahele.
In the final set, Kaua‘i and Waimea exchanged balls until Kaua‘i built an 11-7 gap behind hits from Alonzo and Aubrey Bechard, as well as Waimea miscues. Trailing 8-13, Waimea came back with hits from Lewis and Kaua‘i net violations before a bang from Keira Caoagas of Kaua‘i switched the momentum and secured the win after a Menehune service error.
Friday night encounters should prove interesting, as Kaua‘i hosts Kapa‘a at its new gym’s inaugural sporting event, while Waimea makes the trek to the Wilcox Gymnasium at Island School.
The JV games serve up from 5:30 p.m. at both locations, followed by the varsity contests starting 25 minutes after the completion of the JV contests.
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 808-245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
