LIHUE — The Kauai Interscholastic Federation opened its boys volleyball season with wins going to both Waimea High School and Kapaa High School on Friday night.
During matches played at the Clem Gomes Gym in Waimea, the Menehune marked victories in both the Junior Varsity matches — 25-7, 25-18 and 11-25 — against Kauai High School. The Menehune continued its winning ways by taking the Red Raider varsity boys in straight sets, 25-20, 25-15 and 25-22.
A huge mahalo to Waimea coach Tori Kagawa for texting the final scores for both the JV and varsity contests. This was important for the Kapaa coaching staff who realized that there was no live streaming of the games in Waimea.
Over at the Wilcox Gymnasium, there were no JV scores because Island School did not have enough players to field a JV team. The varsity match — that was delayed for about an hour because Kapaa players arrived late to the Puhi facility — saw the Warriors take Island School in four sets, 25-19, 25-17, 19-25 and 33-31.
Following two strong victories, Kapaa struggled in the third set when the Voyagers were roused into action that continued into the fourth set where Kapaa outlasted the Voyagers in extra points, 33-31.
Court exhaustion showed itself starting in the second set when Island School tied the set at 16-16.
Warrior Austin Green took the service block and served to a 24-17 lead before a Syren Burley put the set to bed, 25-17. During the string of eight unanswered points, Kapaa had whacks from Filisi Hunt and Burley, and a pair of solid blocks against Voyager smacks.
Island School picked up its strong showing from Sol Schmidt, Piko Vaughan and Orion Magaoay in the service block as well as strong hitting from Matthew Dobashi, Elijah Enoka and Logan Reynolds.
The next KIF boys volleyball games take place on Tuesday when Island School meets Kauai High School at the new Kauai High School gym. Because Island School does not have a JV team, there will be just a single contest starting at 6;30 p.m.
Waimea High School makes the trek to the Bernice Hundley Gym to face Kapaa. The JV game serves up from 5 p.m. with the varsity contest starting 20 minutes following the JV game, but not early than 6:30 p.m.
