KAPAA — Fans of Kauai Interscholastic Federation girls volleyball received the full value of their tickets on Friday when the games being played at Wilcox Gymnasium at Island School and Clem Gomes Gym in Waimea went the full five sets before a winner was declared.
Although no official results were available at press time, game spectators said Waimea ended up beating Kauai High School in five sets.
Over at Wilcox Gymnasium, the Voyagers split their series with the visiting Kapaa Lady Warriors after the Island School junior varsity team won its first two sets and dropped the final set 25-22, 25-13 and 13-15.
On the varsity courts, Island School rebounded from a opening set loss to take sets two and three before Kapaa found its second win to force the fifth set. Kapaa took a 25-15, 17-25, 16-25, 25-15 and 15-7 victory onto the buses for the ride home.
Capitalizing on a slow start by the Voyagers, the Lady Warriors took the first set from the service block before rousing Island School, which captured the second and third sets behind the hitting of captain Mary Magoun and the developing power of Madelynn Halladay, Daisy Keller and Madelyn Eddy.
Kapaa, rousing the service block late in the third set, forced the fifth set by taking the fourth set on a string of points served up by Olivia Jenkins that pulled Kapaa away from a 4-4 logjam and created a 9-6 gap. A Kapaa block widened the lead to 11-7 and a Jenkins whack moved Kapaa to 16-10.
Leading 22-14 on a point from a Carlyn Kamoku bang, Kapaa’s Taira Samiano served up to 24-14 before the Lady Warriors lost the side. Kamoku salvaged the hiccup to force the fifth set that seesawed until Magoun tied the set at 6-6. Kailee Ann Baltazar pulled Kapaa up from the service block with four straight points enhanced with an ace and two bangs from Kamoku for the 11-6 bulge.
Eddy notched point 12 for the Voyagers only to have Kamoku regain the side for Kapaa, where Samiano took over the service block with four straight points to seal the deal on a Jennifer Guerin smack. Prior to that, Kamoku pounded out three straight points to shine the Samiano serves.
With just a week remaining in the regular season, Waimea, with its Friday night win, remains in the lead with four wins in Round 2.
Kapaa, who has the Round 1 title with six wins and no losses, is in contention for the Round 1 lead with three wins and one loss (that came at the hands of the Menehune on Oct. 8 at Clem Gomes).
This comes to a head on Tuesday night, when Kapaa celebrates its Senior Night by hosting Waimea at Bernice Hundley Gym.
Kauai at 1-3 will host Island School at 0-4, in Round 2 on Tuesday.
The JV games at both sites start at 5:30 p.m., followed by the varsity games serving up 25 minutes after the JV game.
