KAPA‘A — The Kapa‘a High School and Waimea High School girls volleyball teams swept their matches on Tuesday night, when the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation opened its 2023 fall season at Clem Gomes Gym in Waimea and Bernice Hundley Gym in Kapa‘a.
The junior varsity Menehune ladies lost little time asserting themselves against the Island School Voyagers to claim victory in three sets, 25-6, 25-20 and 25-6.
The junior varsity Lady Warriors worked a little harder, but also finished off Kaua‘i High School in three sets, 25-18, 25-18 and 25-22.
On the varsity floors, Waimea adjusted to an opening set loss, 23-25 against the Lady Voyagers, and rebounded to take the next three sets, 25-21, 25-14 and 25-21.
Kapa‘a girls volleyball coach Tori Tuttle and Keapo Gonsalves went to strong service block performances by Kailee-Ann Baltazar to pull ahead of Kaua‘i in the first two sets, 25-15 and 25-12.
The Warrior coaches rotated Warriors in order to experience some floor action in the third set victory of 25-22.
Tied at 9-9 in the first set, Baltazar served up seven unanswered points to pull Kapa‘a ahead, 16-9, the gap being large enough to give Kapa‘a the set behind hitting from Carlyn Rapozo-Kamoku, Sierra Summer, Vaiani Dubocage and Ku‘uipo Kamae Hunt.
With a 20-13 lead in the first set, Rapozo-Kamoku took the service block for five unanswered points against the Red Raiders.
Kaua‘i answered in the second set when Makenzie Nii entered the service block for four unanswered points before Warrior Olivia Jenkins’ bang knotted the contest at 6-6. Kaua‘i’s Naomi Ikimaka tied the set at seven before Baltazar served up 10 unanswered points to put the game out of reach.
Kapa‘a next makes the trip to face Waimea on Friday at Clem Gomes Gym, while Kaua‘i meets the Voyagers at Wilcox Gymnasium on the Island School campus. The JV games at both sites start at 5:30 p.m. with the varsity contests serving up 25 minutes after the JV games.
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 808-245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
