KAPAA — Trailing 23-12 in the second set Tuesday night against Waimea, Kapaa battled back at the Bernice Hundley Gym during the Kauai Interscholastic Federation girls volleyball game.
Warrior setter Maeha Piturachsatit forced a Menehune error, and middle Lani Alo blocked one for a point. Alo came up the middle for another digit and followed it with another block for point to spark a rally that came up sh0rt when Waimea’s Leiko Yamauchi slammed the 24th point.
Waimea survived the comeback bid with a straight set win, 25-9, 25-18, and 25-22 before a small hometown crowd in the humid gym.
“We worked to control the ball,” said Waimea coach Chad Delanoza. “When you control the ball, great things can happen. We lost control at times and things got a little lopsided. But the girls worked hard, and we hope they are starting to trust us as coaches.”
The momentum of the late second set rally overflowed into the third set as Kapaa girls had the lead on six separate occasions before Waimea sealed the deal with back-to-back hammers from Gabrielle Peleras.
“The girls still need to have more confidence in what they can do out there,” said Kapaa coach Ari Logan. “And then, there’s consistency.”
Following hitting exchanges between Kapaa’s Sydney Nice and Waimea’s Raelee Samio, the scoreboard deadlocked at 16-16 before Piturachsatit notched back-to-back points and Kekaimalie Hunt pounded one for the 20-16 go-ahead.
Waimea answered with hits from Isabella Bateman, and a pair of Peleras whacks before Nice knotted the game at 22-22.
Kapaa net violations coupled with a pair of strong Peleras hits to seal the deal.
Earlier in the night, the Waimea junior varsity beat Kapaa — 25-17, 25-15, and 24-26.
“The girls had a change of atitude out there,” Logan said. “They were playing not to lose instead of playing to win. That changed in the second set and we cut down on a lot errors. We nust need to keep finding what works.”
Delanoza said Kapaa handled the court well.
“The Kapaa girls had good serves and great coaching,” Delanoza said. “We tried several things outside of the traditional outside attacking. But being on the road is tough. We go to Kauai, Friday, then to Island School next Tuesday before finally getting back to the Clem Gomes, next week. But we still have to take care of business.”
Waimea next travels to the Kauai High School gym, Friday against the Red Raiders while Kapaa will host Island School at the Bernice Hundley Gym. Junior varsity serves up at 5 p.m. with the varsity contest starting no earlier than 6:30 p.m.
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
