KAPAA — The defending league champions have won the first round of the season.
Kapaa High School’s varsity boys volleyball team team defeated Kauai High School at the Bernice Hundley Gym in Kapaa to close the round Friday night.
“Very excited and very stoked to be able to clinch the first round,” said Kapaa head coach Kapule Kaona. “We came in pretty focused. We had some great practices lading up to tonight. So, came in pretty confident.
“It may not have seemed so because we went down in almost in every set. We started off with a slow start. Our goal was to try to get a quick and fast start tonight, it didn’t really pan out on that,” Kaona continued. “But I think more than that, it was the fight and grit that they had (won it for us) — to be able to come back in this type of situational game.”
Kapaa (5-1 KIF) beat Kauai in straight sets — 26-24, 25-23 and 25-22.
“We just stayed consistent. We just put the ball where it needed to go, so it was great,” said Warriors junior setter Rusdan-Rocket Ahuna. “We had our ups and downs, but we were able to pull through and get the win.”
Kapaa trailed Kauai High, 22-14, in the first set. The Warriors then went on a 12-2 run to win the opening set, 26-24.
A number of Red Raiders’ errors contributed to that run.
“Honestly, it was a great game. It really was,” said Kauai head coach Enoch A’ana. “We were up-and-up with them. It wasn’t like it was a blowout game. So, I’m really happy with the way the boys played. We know what we got to fix. We’re very close. First round, yes, it’s first round. We have all of the second round to click, find those mistakes and clean them up.”
In the second set, Kapaa took a 7-6 lead and kept the lead through to the end. Warriors junior outside hitter Kesomi Fonua scored the match-winning point for the 25-23 win.
Late in the third set, Kapaa had a 24-19 lead to be in position to clinch without losing a set.
Kauai (3-3 KIF) then had a three-point streak to cut the deficit. Red Raiders sophomore middle Keane Tibon scored a kill, junior libero Kyson Ikehara scored an ace and junior outside hitter Kaimani Tecson scored on a block to bring the scoreline to 24-22.
The Red Raiders, though, then committed an error to lose the set.
“What we take away is we take everything we learned from this round, all the mistakes that we know we have to clean up, and constantly every week are fixing. Now, we just got to play hard,” A’ana said.
Fonua totaled six kills and a block, and Ahuna had 17 assists, two kills and a block for Kapaa.
Warriors junior outside hitter Kiran Costa had nine kills, a block and an ace. Junior middle Ali’i Brown had six kills and four blocks. Junior libero Pomai Rabago-Kaiwi had seven digs.
“Looking forward to the second round, we definitely have to pick up our level of play. We still need to improve more,” Kaona said. “It was a close first round every single game. … Just looking at the record alone (does not mirror) to what’s happening with the teams. It was very, very close. With that being said, everybody else is going to improve and step up their game.”
Tecson had nine kills, two blocks an ace and an assist for Kauai High. Tibon had six kills, and Ikehara totaled five digs, two aces and a kill.
Red Raiders junior outside hitter Joshua Rivera had 10 kills, four digs and an ace. Senior setter Seth Bautista had 19 assists, a kill and a dig. Junior setter Joshua Garcia had eight assists and an ace.
Kauai High won the junior varsity contest, 2-1 — 25-13, 21-25 and 25-19.
In the night’s other scheduled varsity contest, Waimea High School defeated Island School via forfeit. Island School didn’t have enough players to field a team, said Waimea head coach Alton Shimatsu.
Shimatsu added the JV match was played and that Waimea won all three sets of that match.
Kauai High will host Waimea (4-2 KIF), and Kapaa will host Island School (0-6 KIF) on Tuesday to begin the season’s second round. The JV matches will begin 5 p.m. and the varsity will follow.
