WAIMEA — The volleyball season standings hung in the balance Tuesday night in Waimea. The Kapa‘a High School Warriors came in at 2-0 on the season and were hosted by the 1-1 Waimea Menehune. A Menehune win could have meant
WAIMEA — The volleyball season standings hung in the balance Tuesday night in Waimea. The Kapa‘a High School Warriors came in at 2-0 on the season and were hosted by the 1-1 Waimea Menehune. A Menehune win could have meant a three-way tie for first place in the Kauai Interscholastic Federation. A Warrior win would extend Kapa‘a’s lead and keep the team undefeated.
Kapa‘a played like it knew what was at stake and came away with a win in straight sets, 25-22, 27-25 and 25-23, to remain undefeated and grasp control of its own KIF destiny.
Despite the Warriors coming away with a straight set victory, the match was hard fought and the Menehune were in every set. If not for a few plays, the game could have easily gone the other way in favor of Waimea.
Kapa‘a was led by its ferocious hitters, Rudy Agoot and Jeremiah Obrero. Just as Waimea would seem to make a run at taking a set, the Warriors would find a way to get the ball to one of the two mentioned hitters. For good reason, as both Agoot and Obrero were as effective as they have been all season long.
Set one seemed to be a battle between Agoot and Waimea’s Mark Kanahele, who at one point was responsible for six straight Menehune points. Kanahele was by far the most dominant player for the Menehune and didn’t slow up for the duration of the game.
A key turning point was with the score tied at 22-22. The Menehune then committed back-to-back unforced errors, which led to an Agoot kill to close out the set and give the Warriors an advantage.
The Warriors came into the second set on a roll and jumped out to a huge 11-3 lead and looked as if it were going to cruise right through the Menehune. Waimea had different plans and again came back, which culminated in the Menehune winning seven of nine points to tie the set at 22-22. Bobby Oliver played a key roll for Waimea, both up front and at the service line where he earned a pair of aces during that stretch.
Once again, Kapa‘a was determined to get the ball to its hitters. The Warriors effectively got the ball to Obrero and he rewarded them. Obrero scored Kapa‘a’s last four points with three kills and an ace that closed out the set, which ended a 27-25 marathon set.
The Warriors have displayed both the ability to come from behind and protect a lead in the young season, and it will need to do more of the same if it wants to hold on to the KIF lead in what looks to be a highly competitive season.
With the win, Kapa‘a improves to 3-0 and will prepare to play Island School Friday at Island School.
The Menehune fall to 1-2 and will try to rebound Friday when it hosts the Kaua‘i High School Red Raiders in Waimea.
In junior varsity action, the Warriors got the best of the Menhune, 25-21, 21-25 and 25-23.
