LIHU‘E — In a back-and-forth match that was a fitting start to the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation girls volleyball season, the Kaua‘i Red Raiders came out victorious with a 25-22, 13-25, 10-25, 26-24, 15-10 victory over the Kapa‘a Lady Warriors at
LIHU‘E — In a back-and-forth match that was a fitting start to the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation girls volleyball season, the Kaua‘i Red Raiders came out victorious with a 25-22, 13-25, 10-25, 26-24, 15-10 victory over the Kapa‘a Lady Warriors at Kaua‘i High School on Wednesday.
The match’s first game was a tight battle all the way through, with neither team gaining a commanding lead at any point. Kaua‘i closed it out when Teal Basquez and Reanna Javinar each got a piece of the Kapa‘a kill attempt for the block to close it out.
The Lady Warriors came out furiously in the second game, notching the first six points and eventually extending out to a 15-6 lead. They continued to play tough and closed it out convincingly. Senior middle blocker Tori Tuttle had six kills in the game and was a force at the net during Kapa‘a’s most successful stretches of the match.
After nobody took home a prize in the Bobby V “Serve for Pizza” contest before the third game, Kapa‘a took nothing for granted and jumped on the Raiders once again, this time scoring the game’s first seven points.
They eventually took a 13-5 lead on an ace by Hana Imai and never really let the Raiders back into the game from that point on. Hartley Dabin notched another ace to make it 24-10 and Kapa‘a took the 2-1 match lead one point later.
Kaua‘i again struggled to slow down Kapa‘a early in the fourth contest and trailed 9-6. However, they never trailed by more than three points and eventually both teams were trading points for a long stretch of the game. The Lady Warriors seemed to be on the verge of closing out the match with Mele Yama’s ace, followed by another point gave them a 20-17 lead. A Kaua‘i timeout by head coach Corey Morishita seemed to bring the Raiders back together and they soon had evened the contest up at 22-22. Six points later, Kaua‘i had forced a fifth and deciding game.
Waileia Kanealii was the catalyst in that fourth game for the Raiders. She assisted on 12 of the team’s points. Outside hitter Krystin Yasay put away four big kills, as did outside hitter Malia Kagawa. Carly Matsumoto came up with three digs.
In the final game, Kaua‘i seemed to feel it had the momentum. The Raiders played even early on and then took an 8-4 lead on Yasay’s service ace. Trailing 10-5, Kapa‘a head coach Gary Maguire took a timeout to regroup. Kaua‘i continued its strong comeback and took a 13-6 lead.
Kapa‘a tried hard to stay alive, fighting back to a 14-10 deficit before Kanealii found outside hitter Shyanne Sadora for the final finish of the night.
Kanealii had 29 assists for the match to lead her squad. Mele Yama led the Lady Warriors with 14.
Sadora led the Raiders with 10 kills, followed by Yasay with nine. Kapa‘a’s Tuttle notched 17 finishes.
In the junior varsity match, Kaua‘i came away with a 20-25, 25-16, 25-19 victory.
Island School headed to Waimea in the night’s other KIF opener. Coach Chad Delanoza and the Lady Menehune took care of business with a 25-20, 25-20, 25-14 victory.
“We did a lot of great things,” said Coach Delanoza after the match. “We did have a lot of errors, but that was probably caused by nerves.”
He went on to praise the squad from Island School for their effort and execution. He said that they really pulled through and showed good progress.
In the junior varsity exhibition between the two, Waimea won 25-14, 25-11, 26-24.
