Lady Red Raiders down Waimea in two, set tone By JASON GALLIC TGI Sports Editor WAIMEA — Wednesday night, the Kaua’i High School girls set out to further loosen the 26-year grip Waimea has held on the Kaua’i Interscholastic Federation.
Lady Red Raiders down Waimea in two, set tone
By JASON GALLIC
TGI
Sports Editor
WAIMEA — Wednesday night, the Kaua’i High School girls set
out to further loosen the 26-year grip Waimea has held on the Kaua’i
Interscholastic Federation.
Like Houdini, the Red Raiders may have escaped
the grasp altogether.
In front of Menehunes’ fans, Kaua’i (2-0) outplayed
Waimea (1-1) in the teams’ first KIF meeting of the season, sitting the hosts
down 14-5 (time), 15-7. In victory, the Red Raiders established themselves,
rather than Waimea, to be the island favorite this year.
“It is very
exciting to come out with the first win,” Kaua’i coach Richard Roberts said.
“Kaua’i has never won the first match (between Kaua’i and Waimea)
before.”
Ushering in what may prove to be the new era was Kaua’i senior Kim
Downing. The middleblocker struck for nine kills, five of which came at a
critical stage of the second game and boosted the Red Raiders from a 3-2
deficit to a 7-3 advantage.
“Kim kind of had a negative night against
Kapa’a (last Saturday),” Roberts said. “But she turned it around for tonight
and played great.
“So did Misty (Hug), our other middleblocker. Both girls
were very strong.”
And as imposing defensively as offensively. Kaua’i
stymied the Menehunes both at the net and in the backcourt.
“We really dug
the ball well tonight,” Richards said. “But so did Waimea, and that’s why the
games were lengthy.”
Indeed, the Menehunes were not without shining
moments. Senior outside hitter Ashley Hori led Waimea with five kills.
Sophomores Britnee Boeder and Virginia Aguilar each connected for four.
“I
thought we were outplayed on this night,” Waimea coach Dr. Paul Arrington said.
“But it’s a long season, and I’m not really worried about what this will do to
us mentally.”
Waimea and Kaua’i will play three more times this season. The
next meeting is slated for Oct. 7 at Kaua’i High School.
“Our girls are
young and dug well tonight,” Arrington said. “We’ll be ready for the next
match.”
Danielle Kiyabu added five kills for the Red Raiders.
Boys
varsity
Kaua’i dominated on the scoreboard, downing Waimea 15-9, 15-7, but
head coach Shawn Doo wasn’t all that impressed.
“I’m actually disappointed
with how we played,” Doo said. “We need to do a better job of passing, and we
made a lot of mental mistakes.
“We’re trying to get to a level that won’t
allow those things.”
That said, the Raiders (2-0) looked very solid in many
areas. In particular, Kaua’i performed well in transition and played solid
defense.
“We were quick enough and have a good enough setter (senior Matt
Fujikawa) that we were okay tonight,” Doo said. “But we need to continue our
improvement.”
Mauricio Fabro and Jason Kashiwabara led Kaua’i with seven
kills apiece.
The impressive James Marques led the Menehunes (1-1) with
five kills, and handcuffed the Kaua’i passing attack on many occasions with a
powerful jump serve.
Kaua’i stormed to a 6-1 lead in the first game before
Waimea clawed back to 8-5. But the Raiders pulled away after that. Game two was
tied at five before Kaua’i took over.
Jayvee
The Waimea boys took a
victory over Kaua’i 15-7, 14-12 (time). The Kaua’i girls avenged their male
counterparts, winning 9-7, 7-13, 15-12 over the Menehunes.
