LIHUE – The Kaua’i Red Raiders dreamed of this kind of finish to the junior varsity volleyball season: At home, with their sophomores and with wins in both the boys and girls games. Maybe if it wasn’t as difficult to
LIHUE – The Kaua’i Red Raiders dreamed of this kind of finish to the junior varsity volleyball season: At home, with their sophomores and with wins in both the boys and girls games.
Maybe if it wasn’t as difficult to get those wins, they might have thought they were still dreaming.
The Kaua’i boys outlasted Kapa’a 16-14, 5-15, 15-13, and the Raider girls held off the Warriors 16-14, 15-13 to end the 2002 junior varsity season on a good note at the Raiderdome in Lihue.
But it wasn’t a drive up Sunset Blvd. for the Raiders, though. The Warriors have a vastly improved game and wouldn’t just hand it over.
The Warriors took an early 4-1 lead in the boys game on kills by Lyndon Pascual, Chris Ramelb and Winston Ouye.
The Raiders bounced back with kills by Garrett Sakimae, Ryan Nagaoka and Kevin Downing, and eventually took a 7-5 lead on two Nagaoka aces.
Kapa’a rallied. Two Ouye kills and two Ramelb aces propelled the Warriors to a 12-8 lead, and it seemed as if the Raiders would fall in game one.
The tide changed in seconds.
Two more Downing kills, several Warrior hitting errors and two game-sealing kills by Sakimae and Michael Hirahara gave the Raiders a 16-14 win.
The Warriors would get their revenge in game two.
Raider hitting errors gave the Warriors a 3-0 lead. The Raiders chipped in with a Cody Bonilla kill and Ryo Shintani ace, but the Warriors kept rolling.
A Ramelb kill and a duo block by Waioli Forrest and Ouye gave Kapa’a a 9-4 lead. More Raider hitting errors extended the lead to seven points, and an ace from Forrest and kill from Ouye in the waning moments gave the Warriors a 15-5 win.
Kapa’a kept rolling in th third.
Three Pascual kills and a Jordan Gomer ace put the Warriors up 6-0.
Two Rikki Garma aces helped the Raiders chip into the lead, and kills by Downing, Sakimae and Nagaoka eventually tied the game at 7 apiece.
The lead changed three times the rest of the game.
A Garma ace gave the Raiders a 10-9 lead. Seconds later, kills by Ramelb and Ouye put Kapa’a up 13-10. And finally the Raiders, who would eventually keep the lead, capitalized off a kill and block from Downing, a kill from Sakimae and an ace from Hirahara.
The Raiders closed it out 15-13.
Red Raider girls
win 16-14, 15-13
LIHUE – The Raider girls beat the Warriors 16-14, 15-13 at home Saturday to close out the Kaua’i Interscholastic Federation junior varsity volleyball season.
Like the boys, it wasn’t easy. But the Raider girls, whose gift to its sophomores with a surplus of playing time, found a way to get the job done.
The Raiders led 2-0 following a Reesha Aki kill.
Samdi Makepa’s ace put the Warriors on the board, but Erin Fabro responded with a block and kill to give the Raiders a 4-1 edge.
Two Fabro aces, a Ligaya Malones kill and a Zellie Kunishige block kept the Raiders rolling, though several errors kept the Warriors close.
Two Makepa kills and an ace by Lauren Baptiste brought the Warriors to within two points, and an Avian Nakaya kill moments later tied the score 13-13.
But the Raiders were able to hold on.
A Fabro kill and Leilani Alayvilla ace gave the Raiders a 15-13 first game win.
The Warriors refused to make it easy in game two.
A Baptiste ace offset a Raider lead to give Kapa’a a 6-5 advantage. The Warriors continued their run. Aces by Rachel Boshears and Amanda Garces and kills by Leilani Josselin and Baptiste put the Warriors up 11-7.
The Raiders staged a comeback.
A kill and an ace by Keri Sakai and an added kill by Zellie Kunishige helped to tie the scored 12-12, and the Raiders never looked back.
Aces by Malones, Rosalyn Rapozo and Jenna Akasaki along with a kill by Natasha Arakaki capped a side-out-filled finale which the Raiders took 15-13.
