KAPAA — The Warriors, defending league champions and last year’s Division II state runner-up, won in straight sets to start their 2019 campaign.
Kapaa High School’s varsity boys volleyball team defeated Island School, 3-0, Friday night in the Kauai Interscholastic Federation season opener.
“We’re excited for this season. It’s always great to start anew,” said Kapaa head coach Kapule Kaona. “With that comes new expectations, a new team, new personnel. Having this first game is a good opportunity to see where we’re at at the moment. Everybody’s still young and still learning and growing.”
Kapaa (1-0 KIF) defeated Island — 25-15, 25-14, 25-9.
“I think we did an OK job in our performance tonight. Obviously, we came in with a little jitters and nerves. For some reason, regardless of experience, that always is a factor — the crowd and the game-like experience,” Kaona said. “I thought we performed, if I had to give it a grade, like a B. It’s not to take away from the win because that’s great, but we’re always pushing them to be better and expect the best from them. But I think we could have done better in executing a lot of what we wanted to get done today. So, a lot more work to do.”
After Kapaa won the first set, Island School (0-1 KIF) carried a lead early in the second set.
The Voyagers took an early 2-1 lead on an ace by Alae Miike. Later on, Island had an 8-5 lead on an ace by Aidan Offley.
“I think the boys finally knew where they needed to be and just focused on their job — making sure they were in the right spots, doing the right things, and just giving it,” said Island School first-year head coach Erin Nitta about the team’s early second-set lead. “I think they really just stepped out of their comfort zone. That’s what got these boys going in the second set — maybe taking that extra step, maybe swinging a little harder for the next one. Yeah.”
Kapaa then took a 9-8 lead and didn’t relinquish the lead through the set. The Warriors then got out to a 7-0 lead to start the third set in route to completing the straight-set win.
“I think we just had a slow start, especially in that second set. We made a lot of unforced errors that put us behind from the get-go, and we had to climb ourselves out of that hole,” Kaona said. “The third set, we went up 7-0, so we had a great start, a fast start.”
For Nitta, this is her first time coaching boys. She has prior experience coaching high school girls and club, she said.
“I was really excited about this first game. We’ve been working really, really hard. The boys have been pushing,” Nitta said. “As you can see, they had the spirit to play volleyball. We still have a lot of work to do. Our focus is on the process, the little details, and we can always get better.”
Kaona said with this year’s team, which returns many of last year’s players, the goal is to get back to the state championship final match. But he’s said he’s not looking past the league.
“That’s the ultimate goal, to get to the last game, but we can’t get to the last game unless we take care of the next game,” he said. “Our focus right now is next week Tuesday and Kauai High. We’re back in the practice gym tomorrow and already working on the next game. One game at a time, but yes, the big picture and the ultimate goal is to give ourselves an opportunity to get to that state championship game.”
Kapaa’s Kiran Costa totaled a game-high 14 kills with two aces and a block. Ali‘i Brown scored seven kills. Warriors setter Rusdan-Rocket Ahuna totaled 26 assists and one kill.
Offley totaled two kills, a block and an ace for Island School. Miike ended with one kill, one block and an ace. Island School’s Asa Hatcher recorded three kills and a block in Friday night’s contest.
Kapaa will host Kauai High School (0-1) on Tuesday. The junior varsity game will begin 5 p.m. and the varsity will follow.
Island School will host Waimea (1-0 KIF) at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.
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Nick Celario, sports writer, can be reached at 245-0437 or ncelario@thegardenisland.com.
