LIHUE — The Warriors overcame losing the first two sets to win in five.
Kapaa High School’s varsity boys volleyball team defeated Kauai High School at the Red Raiders’ home gym Tuesday evening.
“Obviously, we had a bad start and it showed in our set scores and going down 0-2. Just a slow start,” said Kapaa head coach Kapule Kaona. “We felt like we had a pretty good warmup going into this game, some good practices. So you come in pretty confident, but we played flat the first two sets.
“Some nerves, some jitters — and that’s even amongst our returnees, too. You expect them to solidify everything. But still, for them, it’s trying to get their feet under themselves,” he continued. “We just made errors. … It was tough. Our backs were definitely against the wall. The message was just, ‘One point at a time.’ It was short-term goals we were looking at as opposed to, ‘OK, we got three more sets to go.’”
After falling in the first two sets, Kapaa (2-1 KIF) came out in the third and fourth sets with a second wind and won — 25-13 and 25-15 — to extend the match to a fifth set.
In the third set, Kapaa kept the lead since the opening point. In the fourth, the Red Raiders had a lead early on but the Warriors took and kept the lead through the end since leading, 9-8.
“Definitely took the long way,” said Warriors junior outside hitter Kiran Costa. “We did have any fire in the first two. We were just playing down. I don’t know. Something just kicked in. We stared to pick each other up. We had a talk before the first set, just the players. We regrouped. We just took it point-by-point the next three sets.”
Kaona said after losing to Waimea High School on Friday, the team needed a bounce-back win.
“After Waimea’s game and just knowing that we didn’t perform to our best and to our potential, and coming up short this early on in the season — had it not turn into a W, what would that have done to the morale of the team? Seeing success in years past and then coming out and not having a good start to the season, what does that do to the morale and self-esteem to the team. Knowing, ‘Man, we should be attacking. We should be on top. What is this?’ We needed this win. It was very important.”
In the fifth, again Kauai (1-2 KIF) had an early lead but faltered as the set progressed. Kapaa took a 4-3 lead and kept it through to the end to clinch the road win.
Trailing, 13-7, Kauai went on a bit of streak and cut the deficit to 14-12. A service error by Red Raiders junior setter Seth Bautista, though, awarded Kapaa the 15th and final point.
Kauai won the opening two sets — 25-22 and 25-22. In those sets, the Red Raiders maintained a lead for most of the play.
“It’s everything I hoped for. I was a great game. It’s not the outcome that we wanted, but we played (well) and I couldn’t ask for more,” said Kauai head coach Enoch A’ana. “It’s been a long time since we’ve gone five against Kapaa. The boys just had to dig deep, and we almost did it. We almost pulled it out in the fifth.
“Again, we were down seven points, and we got it back. We gained five points. We just couldn’t close it out,” A’ana continued. “But I think it teaches them humility. I think it’s going to make them really hungry. I think this was a great loss. I couldn’t have asked for anything else. Kapaa came out to play. They played really well, and they were the better team tonight, so props to them.”
During a volley late in the third set, Red Raiders junior outside hitter Joshua Rivera made an unusual play.
As a Warrior hitter softly hit the ball over the net back to the Red Raiders front row, Rivera bumped the ball with his head to keep the play going.
“I have never seen that, and I hope I see more of it,” A’ana said of Rivera’s header. “But props to him that he knew the ball was right above his head. He took it with his head, and it counted. And we won the point.”
Costa led Kapaa with a game-high 30 kills and also totaled seven digs and two aces. Warriors junior outside hitter Kesomi Fonua, junior middle Ali’i Brown and senior opposite hitter Noah Rall each scored six kills.
Warriors junior setter Rusdan-Rocket Ahuna totaled 38 assists, three kills and four digs. Junior libero Pomai Rabago-Kaiwi had 11 digs.
Rivera totaled 26 kills, 12 digs and an ace for Kauai High. Bautista recorded a game-high 43 assists and one ace.
Red Raiders junior outside hitter Kaimani Tecson had 14 kills, five digs and two assists. Sophomore middle Keane Tibon had seven kills and one ace. Junior libero Kyson Ikehara had 11 digs and one kill.
In the junior varsity match, Kauai defeated Kapaa, 2-1 — 25-20, 25-13 and 18-25.
In the nights other Kauai Interscholastic Federation contest, Waimea defeated Island in straight sets — 25-20, 25-17 and 25-19 — at the Wilcox Gymnasium in Puhi. Waimea also won the JV match, 2-1.
Kapaa will host Island School (0-3 KIF), and Kauai will host Waimea (3-0 KIF) on Friday. The JV matches will begin 5 p.m. and the varsity will follow.
