WAIMEA — The Kaua‘i High School Red Raiders opened the second half of the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation volleyball season on the road in Waimea Tuesday night. The Red Raiders closed the first half out by defeating the first place Kapa‘a
WAIMEA — The Kaua‘i High School Red Raiders opened the second half of the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation volleyball season on the road in Waimea Tuesday night. The Red Raiders closed the first half out by defeating the first place Kapa‘a High School Warriors and Island School. Kaua‘i kept on rolling against Waimea with a 25-18, 19-25, 25-22 and 25-10 win over the Menehune.
The Red Raiders were led by Dominic Armstrong, who played strong at the net throughout the game. Kaua‘i came out of the gate firing on all cylinders and jumped out to a 19-13 lead. The Red Raiders had little trouble closing out the opening set.
The second set would belong to the Menehune. At times this season, Kaua‘i has struggled with unforced errors and a lack of focus, which is what happened in the set. Credit is given to Waimea for taking full advantage of the situation. The Red Raiders actually came out with a 7-4 lead before Waimea began to fight back. The Menehune went on to take six of the next seven points to take the lead and never relinquished it again.
The third set was by far the most competitive of the night. The momentum of the match was in the balance with the score 15-13 in favor of the Red Raiders. The Menehune proceeded to rally off six straight points behind the serve of Mark Kanahele, which prompted a Kaua‘i timeout.
The Red Raiders then came away with four straight points to tie the match at 19-19. A pair of kills from Kaua‘i’s Mikal Moranz and Tyler Fernandez coupled with two Waimea unforced errors put Kaua‘i up 22-20. With the aid of more Waimea errors, Kaua‘i completed its comeback to take the set and the momentum.
“We showed a lot of character in the third set,” said Kaua‘i Head Coach Merrill Carvalho. “We showed the ability to come back and win a set and we started in the right direction with a win.”
Kaua‘i is headed in the correct direction having won three straight games. If Kaua‘i can keep its momentum rolling, the Red Raiders can force a playoff with the first-half champion Kapa‘a Warriors.
“We feel like we are on a roll,” Carvalho said. “We have to focus on Friday’s game. If we can beat Kapa‘a at home we would have a psychological advantage over the other teams in the division, but we just need to play one game at a time and use Friday as a measuring tool.”
With the win, Kaua‘i improves to 5-2 on the season, which sets the stage for Friday’s showdown in Lihu‘e against the Warriors. If the Red Raiders can come away with a win, it could control its own KIF destiny.
Waimea falls to 3-4 on the year as it prepares to take on Island School Friday in Waimea.
