LIHU‘E — Kaua‘i High School girls volleyball player Mikayla Alonzo, designated as middle, and Naomi Ikimaka, a strong utility, had their share of solid, crowd-pleasing hammers in a Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation volleyball match at Kaua‘i High School on Tuesday evening.
LIHU‘E — Kaua‘i High School girls volleyball player Mikayla Alonzo, designated as middle, and Naomi Ikimaka, a strong utility, had their share of solid, crowd-pleasing hammers in a Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation volleyball match at Kaua‘i High School on Tuesday evening.
But the effort came up short against the balanced attacks waged by a Kapa‘a High School team, which took the match in three sets — 25-18, 25-23 and 25-21.
Earlier in the evening, Kapa‘a’s junior varsity team was a three-set winner — 25-20, 25-13 and 25-17 — to set the stage for a Warrior sweep during the first matches of the KIF second round.
Results of the Waimea High School at Island School matches were not available at press deadlines.
Trailing 5-0 in the opener, Kaua‘i chipped away at the deficit before a crowd-pleasing block, and a Kapa‘a net violation pulled the Raiders to within a pair of points at 7-5. An Alonzo hammer pulled the Raiders to 7-6 before Kapa‘a’s Ku‘uipomakamae Hunt took the service block for five unanswered points, including getting a nice whack in the series to push the Lady Warriors to a 13-7 bulge.
Kaua‘i team captain Keira Caoagas had her best showing in the service block, when she served up a string of four unanswered points, including an ace, to pull the Raiders to within four at 22-18. Hunt took over the block for the Warriors and sealed the deal when the Raiders were called for a net violation.
Both teams settled down, and Kapa‘a took off behind the sets of Taira Samiano and the balanced hitting by Olivia Jenkins who got nice help from Hunt, Kanoe Haneberg and Sierra Summer. In addition to Hunt’s prowess in the service block, the Lady Warriors also got several nice string of points from its libero Sierra Yamashita.
KIF girls volleyball continues on Friday night when Waimea High School makes the trek over to Bernice Hundley Gym to face Kapa‘a. Kaua‘i High School will host the Voyagers, winner of the KIF first round, at its new gymnasium.
The JV games are scheduled to serve up at 5:30 p.m. with the varsity contests serving up 25 minutes after the completion of the JV games.
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 808-245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
