KAPAA — The Kauai Interscholastic Federation closed its girls volleyball first round on Friday with Kapaa High School as the undisputed title holder following a straight set win over Kaua‘i High School at Bernice Hundley Gym.
Playing before a near-capacity crowd, hard play by Olivia Jenkins, Kanoe Haneberg, Jennifer Geurin paid off with wins of 25-20, 25-11 and 25-22.
Earlier in the evening, the Kauai High School junior varsity team came from behind to sweep its series over Kapaa 25-20, 30-28 and 15-12. During the final set, Kauai was chasing an 11-2 deficit before reversing the tide to win 15-12.
Over at Wilcox Gymnasium on the Island School campus, the visiting Waimea Menehune took both ends of their matchup against the Voyagers.
The JV contest saw Waimea prevail 25-20, 20-25 and 15-12.
On the varsity courts, Waimea took the Voyagers in straight sets 25-16, 25-10 and 25-21.
The results of the Friday night encounters improved the Lady Warriors to an undefeated 6-0 leader of the KIF and the KIF first round.
The victory by the Menehune at Island School improved Waimea to a three-way tie for second place with Kauai and Island School. Each school ended the first round with two wins and four losses.
After being dominated by the Lady Warriors in the first two sets, Kauai came back from a 11-10 deficit behind a Katelyn Lopes bang to knot the contest at 11-11.
The Raiders enjoyed a short winning gap, 13-11, behind a Leila Caoagas, staying in for all three sets.
Kapaa came back from 22-21 to put the game away on a pair of Kanoe Haneberg bangs and a solid Lady Warrior block.
The KIF starts round two play on Oct. 1 when Waimea comes to visit Kauai at the Raiders gymnasium, and the Voyagers travel to Bernice Hundley Gym to take on Kapaa.
The JV contests at both sites serve up at 5:30 p.m., followed by the varsity games starting 25 minutes following 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.
