LIHU‘E — The Island School high school boys varsity volleyball team, defending Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation champions, are on track to take the KIF first round crown following the results of Tuesday matches at Kaua‘i High in Lihu‘e and the Wilcox Gymnasium on the Island School campus in Puhi.
According to ScoringLive.com, the Voyagers were a 3-1 winner, 25-11, 25-22, 18-25 and 25-18, over the visiting Kapa‘a Warriors. ScoringLive does not keep track of junior varsity scores, and no JV scores from Island School were available at press time.
Kaua‘i High, hosting the Waimea Menehune, did not fare as well, dropping the JV series 2-1 (31-29, 15-25 and 6-15), and the varsity Red Raiders fell to the Menehune in three, 22-25, 23-25 and 20-25.
The Menehune went to its strong middles, Kelani Lewis and Haweo Akeo, to force Red Raider errors throughout the three sets.
A Red Raider error coupled with a David “Kaio” Tsuchiya ace knotted the first set, 22-22. Waimea broke the deadlock on back-to-back blocks of Red Raider hits before Lewis put away the set, 25-22.
In the second set, Waimea pulled away from a 15-15 deadlock when Makenyah “Kenny” Okeigar served up four straight points, the string including a block from Menehune Akeo, and Red Raider miscues for a 19-15 go-ahead.
Kaua‘i High answered on hits from Bryan Brown and Syrus Delos Reyes to knot the contest 22-22 on a Menehune net violation. Knotted 23-23, Waimea pulled ahead on a Tsuchiya bang and sealed the deal on a Red Raider error, 25-23.
After trailing the third set by as much as five points, the Red Raiders w0rked to close the gap to within a digit behind a hit from Delos Reyes and a block from Xaedan Valdez, 19-20.
The Menehune service block took over, serving up four straight points that included the Raiders getting a lift call, and tripping over miscues before Joshiah “JoJo” Banasihan sealed the deal, 25-20.
The KIF reaches the end of the first round on Friday, April 7, 2023, when Kaua‘i High hosts Island School and Kapa‘a makes the trek to Clem Gomes Gym to face Waimea High. The JV games at both sites start at 5 p.m., followed by the varsity contests, but not starting earlier than 6:30 p.m.
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 808-245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
