PUHI — With a lot more girls volleyball matches to play in the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation, Kapa‘a High School varsity girls took the lead in the KIF second round following its sweep over Island School on Tuesday night at Wilcox Gymnasium.
The junior varsity Warriors held off any Voyager challenges to win — 25-15, 25-21 and 25-19 — before an audience that sat through the Puhi traffic bottleneck to reach the gym.
Over at Clem Gomes Gym, Waimea High School also swept its series against Kaua‘i High School when the JV Menehune took three sets — 25-11, 25-17 and 25-20.
The varsity Menehune continued the winning ways by downing the Red Raiders in straight sets — 25-21, 25-20 and 28-26.
At Wilcox Gymnasium, Kapa‘a High School overcame a slow start to rebound and out play the Voyagers to a win in four sets — 18-25, 25-12, 25-15 and 25-16. With the win, Kapa‘a remains undefeated in the KIF second round after dropping a heartbreaker to Island School in playoffs for the KIF first round title.
Island School shares the runner-up berth with Waimea High School, each team having one loss. Kaua‘i follows with two losses in the second round.
After staying close from the opening serve, the Voyagers pulled out to a four-point lead behind whacks from Madelyn Halladay, Brooklyn and Brittany Valentino.
Despite an answering hit from Kanoe Haneberg, miscues on the court kept the lead on the Island School bench in the first set.
Trailing 16-13, Kapa‘a went to the service block with Ku‘uipomakamae Hunt served up a string of three points laced with hits from Olivia Malafu and Carlyn Rapozo-Kamoku, who had a series of one-on-one conferences with Coach Tori Tuttle during the JV game and continuing into team warmups.
Malafu hammered Kapa‘a’s point No. 17, but the Voyagers answered when Brittany Valentino took the service block for a string of five unanswered points, laced with an ace, and a Brittany Valentino hit to put the game out of Kapa‘a’s reach.
Kapa‘a took control of the remaining three sets with an all-team effort, while the Voyagers looked for reinforcements in Katie Brown, Madelyn Eddy and Nola Brown that came up short against the Lady Warriors.
KIF girls volleyball continues on Friday, when the Voyagers make the trek to Clem Gomes Gym to face the Menehune. Kaua‘i High School visits Bernice Hundley Gym to face off against Kapa‘a.
The JV contests serve up starting at 5:30 p.m. at both locations, followed by the varsity contests serving up 25 minutes after the JV matches end.
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 808-245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
