LIHU‘E — The Island School boys volleyball team took their matches against Kaua‘i High School on Tuesday in a Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation contest at Wilcox Gymnasium on the Island School campus.
For the junior varsity Voyagers, the win came with a three-set journey — 25-16, 18-25 — and outlasting the Red Raiders 19-17 after coming from behind in the series determining set.
On the varsity floor, the varsity Voyagers stayed focused on the ultimate goal of winning 25-23, 25-16 and 25-23.
Over at Clem Gomes Gym, the Kapa‘a High School Warriors split their series with the Menehune, the JV Menehune claiming a two-set win 25-16 and 25-21 before the varsity Warriors claimed victory in four sets 21-25, 25-20, 25-13, and 25-19.
“This is not the championship game,” said Island School athletic director Michelle Jona. “This is our Senior Night. The title Central Pacific Bank/KIF game comes on Saturday when we travel to meet Kapa‘a, who will be celebrating their Senior Night.”
The Voyagers peeled away the distractions of Senior Night that traditionally is the last home game of a season’s sporting event, attracting a larger than normal home crowd anxious to congratulate graduating seniors.
According to a team parent, Michelle Fitzgerald, those Voyager seniors include Mark Fitzgerald, a backrow specialist and libero for the Voyagers, Michael Fitzgerald Jr., who is one of the Voyagers’ heavy hitters, Kash Lanini, Dylan Watanabe, who drew a loud ovation when called to the service block in the second set, Bohdi Jones. who contributed his share of heavy hitting in the win, and Kaelen Suzuki-Kaohi. who led the effort of closing the gap in the middle.
The Raiders tied the first set a number of times before finally getting the lead on an Isaac Mirey hit 19-17. The Voyagers answered with a Bohdi Jones hammer to tie and went up by one on a Raider hitting error.
Kaua‘i regained the lead 23-22 on a Dylan Takata whack, but could not answer the Voyagers’ response that included another Jones hammer and Kaelen Suzuki-Kaohi sealing the deal 25-23.
Similar situations took place in the second and third sets when the Raiders were teased with the lead only to come up short on the top end.
The KIF boys volleyball season comes to an end on Saturday when Island School makes the trip to Bernice Hundley Gym to face Kapa‘a.
On the other side of the book, Waimea travels to the Kaua‘i High School gymnasium to face the Raiders. The match is a rescheduled event because the CPB KIF hosts the track and field finals at Vidinha Stadium on Thursday and Friday.
The JV games at both sites start at 5:30 p.m.
