PUHI — The Island School Voyagers clinched the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation boys volleyball first round with a 3-1 win over Kapa‘a High School on Friday at Wilcox Gymnasium.
The Voyager victory on Friday eliminates the possibility of a playoff. The next KIF boys volleyball matches will take place on Tuesday when the first round crown holder Voyagers host the Waimea High School program at the Wilcox Gymnasium.
Kapa‘a will travel to the Kaua‘i High School gymnasium to face the Red Raiders. The first serve in the junior varsity contest takes the block at 5:30 p.m. at both sites.
Earlier on Friday, the Kapa‘a JV dropped its opener to the Voyager JV, 25-14. But the JV Warriors regrouped and the strong presence of its middle — both starting and rotating — led Kapa‘a to 25-20 and 15-5 wins.
Scores from the contests held at the Clem Gomes Gym were not available.
On the varsity courts, the Warriors appeared strong, but could only claim Set 3 against the Voyagers who were intent on “no playoffs.”
Facing a 6-2 deficit in the opening set, the Voyagers climbed back out of the hole to within two points before Kaelen Suzuki-Kaohi whacked one and forced back-to-back Warrior hitting errors for the first Voyager go-ahead of the night at 22-21. Another Suzuki-Kaohi hammer from the middle and more hitting miscues sealed the Island School first set win.
The Voyagers banked on that momentum and held off Kapa‘a until the 24-16 scoreboard reading. A Voyager serving error and a hit from Emry Piturachsatit kept the Kapa‘a hope alive until the Warriors committed a service error to seal the second Voyager victory.
Kapa‘a was still down 7-2 in the third set before clawing back to force a 10-10 stalemate on a Voyager passing error. Mark Fitzgerald took the service block for a point following another Kapa‘a service error that teetered the board to the Voyagers.
Syren Burley took the service block for six straight points from a 24-20 deficit to drive the 26-24 Kapa‘a edge that saw a Warrior block combine with hits from Napela Mokuahi and Austin Green before the Voyagers sank on back-to-back hitting miscues.
The Warriors looked at a 12-10 edge in the fourth set before Mark Fitzgerald turned the tables from the service block. Mark fired off five straight points, including a pair of aces, for the 16-12 go-ahead.
A Bodhi Jones hit and a pair of Michael Fitzgerald hits sealed the deal at 25-18 for the KIF first round crown.
