KAPAA — The Kapaa High School Warriors needed five sets to close the door, 3-2, against Kauai High School on Tuesday night before a good-sized audience at the Bernice Hundley Gym in Kapaa.
With both teams exercising their rosters, Kapaa took the first two sets, 25-20 and 25-22, before Kauai came back for a crowd-pleasing 32-30 edge in the third set. The momentum carried the Raiders to a 25-23 fourth-set win before Kapaa finished the night, 15-7, in the fifth.
“The boys were playing not to lose, not playing to win,” said Kapaa coach Kapule Kaona. “We had good starts in the first two sets. In fact, we had a good start on the night, going up 2-0. Everyone kept looking around, no one would step up and take charge to finish the game.”
The Warriors’ defense and hitting by Kieran Costa pulled out a 9-6 edge in the opening set. After battling hard, Kapaa built up a 23-14 lead behind a lift call to Kauai and a pair of hits up the middle from Justin Faidley.
Kauai answered by stringing up four unanswered points behind the hitting of Joshua Rivera combining with Kapaa miscues for a 23-18 lead before the Warriors put away the game.
“We were back struggling with our serves and passing,” Kaona said. “We were just trying to finish.”
Kauai looked at a 7-4 deficit in the third set and came back to even the match, 7-7, behind a Kaimani Tecson bang. Kapaa pulled ahead on a pair of Costa swings and a Kauai error. Kauai stayed close by the slim two-point margin before reversing the table on a pair of Rivera hits for the 23-21 go-ahead.
Kapaa capitalized on a Costa bang and a pair of Kauai errors to go ahead, 24-23, only to give the lead back to Kauai on an error. Rusdan-Rocket Ahuna ignited the crowd with a block for point to tie the match, 25-25, forcing the extra play until Kauai sewed up the match behind hits from Tecson and Rence Soriano for the 32-30 final.
With the series tied, 2-2, Kapaa surged to a 9-4 lead behind hitting from Noah Rall and Costa combining with errors from the tiring Raiders. A Faidley dump up the middle brought the score to 12-6 before the Warriors closed the door on hits from Raine Youne and the final block for point.
“All I can say is how proud I am of how the boys played, tonight,” said Kauai coach Enoch Aana. “The kids came through, tonight. Somehow, they found a way to dig deep and bounce back. They went down fighting, and that is all you can ask. We’re not done, yet. We’re going to keep fighting to the very end. We still have to clear up those errors.”
Earlier in the evening, Kauai High School’s junior varsity took a 2-1 victory off the floor, 25-22, 25-18 and 15-25.
Kapaa next travels to the Wilcox Gymnasium at Island School on Friday with the junior varsity match getting under way at 5 p.m. and the varsity match to start no earlier than 6:30 p.m. Kauai will make the trek to the Clem Gomes Gym in Waimea to start the home half of Round 2.
