KAPA‘A — The Kapa‘a High School Warriors split their KIF volleyball season opener as the Boys took their matches in three, 25-16, 22-25, 25-18, while the Lady Warriors were just a few notches short, 23-25, 25-27 against the visiting Kaua‘i
KAPA‘A — The Kapa‘a High School Warriors split their KIF volleyball season opener as the Boys took their matches in three, 25-16, 22-25, 25-18, while the Lady Warriors were just a few notches short, 23-25, 25-27 against the visiting Kaua‘i Red Raiders Wednesday night.
Ryan Cram had the standing-room only Bernice Hundley crowd going, demonstrating his versatility on the court with digs, sets, blocks, and hits as he was joined by Billy Toy up front to keep Kaua‘i at bay.
Cram kept Kaua‘i off-balance, mixing some of his hits from the back row as well, sealing the Raiders’ fate in the third game with a solid hit up the middle.
Kapa‘a also got good play from Whitney Haraguchi and Alika Woodward, while the Raiders also touted extra effort from Garrett Sakimae, Kevin Downing, and Justin McSheehy, Sakimae mixing his setting with key blocks and an occasional kill.
Futi Tavana was the sparkplug for the Raider men, but despite several kills spread out through the three matches, Kapa‘a capitalized on Tavana’s rotation to nail down the victory.
The Warrior wahine got stellar performance from sophomore Amniesty Ragsac, but the effort fell short against a well-rounded Kaua‘i attack that was led by Kehau Silva, Tina Moger, and supported by Farren Higley up the middle.
As Moger and Silva put finishing touches on game one, Kapa‘a senior Roxanne Apana came up with a pair of service points to keep the Warriors in the hunt 23-24, but a dink from Raider setter Anna Quibilan sealed the game for Kaua‘i.
Ragsac took control of game two with six straight service points spiced with key hits to keep Kapa‘a within striking distance.
Trailing by four points, 20-24, Ragsac entered the server’s box and opened with an ace that brought Kapa‘a to within two, the Warriors capitalizing on a Raider hitting error to narrow the gap for Ragsac’s follow-through hit to stalemate game two, 24-24.
A Silva hit late in the game deadlocked the match 25-25 before Kaua‘i capitalized on back-to-back Warrior errors for the win.
The JV contests played earlier in the afternoon had Kapa‘a splitting, again as the JV Warrior wahine were victimized by the Kaua‘i girls 5-25, 8-25.
The Kapa‘a JV boys took their match 25-8, 25-14.
Kapa‘a will pack their bags for a trip over to the Clem Gomes Gym in Waimea where they will take on the Menehune in Waimea’s season opener on Saturday.
