PUHI — Island School sophomore Mary Magoun pulled the trigger and the crowd in the Wilcox Gymnasium exploded on Tuesday night during the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation girls volleyball playoff for the KIF title.
Island School, which earlier claimed Round 2 honors following its triumph over Kaua‘i High in four sets, beat Waimea High School in five sets — 25-18, 25-18, 25-27, 13-25 and 15-13 — to capture the KIF girls volleyball title before an overflow crowd on the Island School campus.
The Voyagers’ opposite side hitter’s whack nailed the KIF title following five sets of grueling competition against Waimea High, the KIF Round 1 title holder playing its second game after returning to full strength. The girls volleyball title is also the first KIF championship claimed for this school year.
Egged on by enthusiastic fan support, Island School laid claim to the first two sets by capitalizing on Menehune mistakes on the court and peppering the fan support with hitting from Magoun, Brooklyn Valentino and Kianalei Kamalani.
Trailing by two sets, Waimea responded in the third set as the Menehune wahine took a 5-1 lead behind a solid Safina Sandblom block and whack from Kalia Yaris.
The Voyagers answered with Liko Edwards in the service block delivering a string of points, including an ace, and Magoun hits for the 6-5 go-ahead to start a point exchange. Waimea’s Kaylen Lewis hit one, and Ambrieal Kanahele blocked a Voyager ball for a 22-21 bulge before Magoun hammered out a 22-22 stalemate.
An Island School miscue put Waimea up 24-23 before back-to-back Magoun hammers chipped out a 25-24 Voyager lead before a trio of Voyager miscues nailed Waimea’s 27-25 win.
A string of serves by Kanahele pulled the Menehune to an early 12-5 lead in the fourth set, and solid whacks from Kanahele, Lewis, and a tandem blocking effort by Lewis and Cherish Tavita forced the fifth set that was another point-exchange affair.
With the Menehune holding a 13-12 edge, Island School answered when Brittany Valentino delivered three critical points from the service line that was nailed home on the Magoun hammer.
With the girls volleyball title in hand, Island School will represent the KIF at the New City Nissan Hawai‘i High School Athletic Association Division II Girls Volleyball State Tournament that will take place Oct. 25-28 for the DII girls. The Division I tournament play will take place Oct. 24 and Oct. 26-28. Both tournaments will take place on O‘ahu.
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 808-245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
