LIHUE — On the last night of the regular season, the Warriors snagged their third straight league title.
Kapaa High School’s varsity boys volleyball team defeated Kauai High, 3-1, Friday night at Kauai High School to win its third consecutive Kauai Interscholastic Federation championship.
“The thing that made this team so special this year, compared to previous years, previous years we had studs. … Those guys really carried us throughout the season. Going into this year, there was a lot of question marks,” said Kapaa head coach Kapule Kaona. “We really needed team volleyball to really win that, and that has been our mantra all season long.”
He added: “It took every single person to get through this. … It was team volleyball that has really gotten us through this whole year. They really bought into what we wanted to do, us as coaches and what we wanted to do, what our system was and how we wanted to run things. Because they bought into it, we’re here standing today with the KIF championship.”
Kapaa (11-1 KIF, 6-0 2nd round) won — 25-17, 25-10, 23-25 and 25-16 — to clinch the season’s second round and the league crown.
Kapaa moves on to the New City Nissan Boys Volleyball Championships–Division II state tournament, which begins May 3 on Oahu. Seedings and schedules are yet to be released.
“It’s awesome. It’s a great feeling,” said Warriors junior outside hitter Kiran Costa. “If you look at where we started, the first match against Island School, we were nowhere near where we are now. We worked over countless hours and countless days putting in the work. Everybody just trusted the process and bought in. Everyone wanted that same goal of KIF, but the bigger goal is getting to states.”
Kapaa got itself big leads early in the first two sets. The Warriors had a 9-2 lead in the first set and a 7-2 lead in the second.
“We’ve been constantly working on getting a faster start,” Kaona said.
“At the beginning of the season, we’ve had slow starts in our games. We actually changed the way we were practicing. … Tonight was the best start we’ve ever had in the entire season. We were clicking on all cylinders from the get-go.”
After losing the third set to the Red Raiders, the Warriors were again in the driver’s seat and got out to a 15-5 lead. At the 20-14 scoreline, Costa scored four of the team’s next five points to clinch.
“It’s a great feeling that your setter trusts you. (Warriors junior setter Rusdan-Rocket Ahuna) is a great setter,” Costa said. “That wasn’t possible without the pass, and Rocket was able to put it up and I was just able to swing away.”
After falling by double digits in the second set, Kauai (7-5 KIF, 4-2 2nd round) rebounded to win the third set, 25-23. Kauai held the lead during the middle part of the set, but Kapaa worked through to level the score at 19-19.
Later on with the score tied at 23-23, the Red Raiders took the set on consecutive errors by the Warriors.
“Mentally, Kapaa was a way stronger team today. They clicked together,” said Red Raiders senior setter Seth Bautista. “My boys and I, we had to take time to realize we had to play with urgency. It took us a while to actually get our gears on. It’s pretty sad, but props to Kapaa.”
Friday night was Kauai’s senior night. Bautista, the only Red Raiders senior this year, was recognized after the match.
“I really tried to keep tears back. Big boys don’t cry,” said Bautista, a two-year varsity player. “It was tear-jerker to see that everyone who came to support me really loves me. I couldn’t ask for any more.”
Kauai head coach Enoch A’ana was not available for comment following Friday’s match.
Costa totaled 19 kills, two digs and an assist for Kapaa. Warriors senior opposite hitter Noah Rall got eight kills, including the set-winner in the fourth set, and four blocks. Sophomore middle Justin Faidley had nine kills, a block and an ace.
Ahuna had a match-high 39 assists with a block and a kill. Senior libero Justin Paleka had seven digs and two assists.
Bautista ended with 13 assists, six digs and a kill for Kauai High. Red Raiders junior outside hitter Kaimani Tecson led the team with 13 kills, three blocks and an ace. Junior outside hitter Joshua Rivera had five kills and four digs. Junior setter Joshua Garcia had 14 assists, three digs and a kill.
Kapaa won the junior varsity match, 2-1 — 25-23, 17-25 and 25-18.
In the night’s other KIF varsity contest, Waimea (6-6 KIF, 2-4 2nd round) defeated Island School (0-12 KIF, 0-6 2nd round) at the Wilcox Gymnasium in Puhi in straight sets — 25-17, 25-21 and 25-18.
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Nick Celario, sports writer, can be reached at 245-0437 or ncelario@thegardenisland.com.
