PUHI — Island School girls volleyball earned the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation first round title by holding off Kapa‘a High School in four sets on Friday before an overflow audience at Wilcox Gymnasium on the Island School campus.
After dropping a heart-breaking 24-26 opening set, the Voyager girls rebounded to take the next three sets in succession — 25-21, 25-17, and 26-24 — for the KIF first round title into the locker rooms that was a designated tented area in the corners of the gym.
Kapa‘a, which showed strong play in the games leading up to the playoff for title, was frustrated by not being able to capitalize on rotation lapses by the Voyagers.
The first set that belonged to the Lady Warriors was a comeback effort after Kapa‘a could not take the lead despite tying the contest on several occasions during the set.
Trailing 20-21, Kapa‘a lost the momentum on a hitting error that put Island School up 22-20. Kapa‘a answered on a Ku‘uipomakamae Hunt whack to pull to within a digit, 23-22, and deadlocked the contest at 24-24 on a Voyager serving error.
From that point, back-to-back aces from Hunt put the set away, 26-24, as the audience went wild, including the Warrior junior varsity squad that came to the game in uniform to help warm up the varsity squad and settled in to cheer on the Lady Warriors.
Island School turned to its crowd-anticipated Valentino Twins, Brooklyn and Brittany, who got solid back up help from Mary Magoun on the outside, and Madelynn Halladay in the middle to keep the Lady Warriors at bay through the remaining three sets.
During the second set, Kapa‘a got as close as 23-18 on a Sierra Summer whack, but the Voyagers pulled ahead and sealed the deal on a Brooklyn Valentino hammer.
During the third set, Kapa‘a looked at a 10-5 deficit, the Voyagers’ 10th point coming off a block. Trailing 22-13, Kapa‘a got a nice string of points from Taira Samiano in the service block to pull to within five marks before the Voyagers surged to the end on a pair of Brooklyn Valentino shots.
Kapa‘a stayed close in the fourth set, and even took the lead 9-7 when the Voyagers were called for a net violation. But the Voyagers wouldn’t relent and following ties at 9-9, 10-10, 11-11, Kapa‘a again took the lead 14-12 behind hits from Summer, Carlyn Rapozo-Kamoku and Kanoe Haneberg.
The Lady Warriors tied the contest, 24-24, when the Voyagers were called for a lift. Island School came back with whacks from Magoun and Brittany Valentino to put everything away at 26-24.
The KIF starts Round 2 on Tuesday when Kapa‘a comes to the new Kaua‘i High School gymnasium on Tuesday to face the Red Raiders. Waimea will be visiting the Voyager girls at Wilcox Gymnasium. The first serve for the JV game goes off at 5:30 p.m., followed by the varsity contest starting 25 minutes after the JV matches end at both sites.
