LIHU‘E — Saulieann Wong of Waimea came to play. Wong pounded kills along with Robyn Arrington. Wong dug balls from the back along with Arrington. But, the Menehune were plagued by errors that outnumbered their fiery play as Kaua‘i wrapped
LIHU‘E — Saulieann Wong of Waimea came to play.
Wong pounded kills along with Robyn Arrington. Wong dug balls from the back along with Arrington.
But, the Menehune were plagued by errors that outnumbered their fiery play as Kaua‘i wrapped up the first round title Tuesday night, 25 – 19, 25 – 15.
The win came as the Red Raiders played their second game in as many nights, anticipating another game tonight as they host the Kapa‘a Warriors for round two.
Working behind measured hits from Kyrie Simeona who caught fire in Monday night’s victory over Kapa‘a, the Raiders got nice blocking up the middle shared between Farren Higley and Erin Fabro.
Tina Moger controlled the backrow, and fired up the front line with kills to lead the night’s victory, getting help from Simeona, Alaina Villatora, and Kehau Silva.
Waimea capitalized on some Kaua‘i passing errors and the hitting of Wong to trim a 7-2 deficit behind a string of service points from Wong to knot the contest 8-8 as Tiana Caylor netted a serve.
But, Waimea faltered as Tori Kagawa answered with another net ball, and after recovering from a hitting error, Arrington tied the contest 10 – 10, and pulled ahead on a Kaua‘i hitting error.
A Simeona kill knotted the contest for the third time, 11-11, but the Raiders never looked back as they chipped away for the win.
The controlled game sought by the Menehune never materialized as Kaua‘i continued their steady attack in game two, the closest the Menehune came to a lead coming when Wong blocked a solid Silva hit for a 2-1 advantage.
The toll of playing back-to-back games showed itself as late in game one, Silva collapsed from a troubled ankle, but returned to the game after treatment in the locker room. Likewise, Simeona briefly left the floor, nursing a shoulder, but returned to wrap up the victory.
Kaua‘i will host Kapa‘a this afternoon at the Raiderdome starting at 3 p.m. for the Round two opener.
JV games start no earlier than 3, 4:25, 5:30 and 6:45 p.m.
In Round Two, Boys’ JV will play first, followed by Girls’ JV, Girls’ Varsity and Boys’ Varsity.
