LIHU‘E — Consider yourself warned! The Kapa‘a High School boys volleyball squad put KIF favorite Kaua‘i High School to the ropes and almost got the win. “I think the whole team, including myself are surprised about what happened on Wednesday,”
LIHU‘E — Consider yourself warned! The Kapa‘a High School boys volleyball squad put KIF favorite Kaua‘i High School to the ropes and almost got the win.
“I think the whole team, including myself are surprised about what happened on Wednesday,” Kapa‘a High School boys volleyball coach Merrill Carvalho said.
But in the end, The Red Raiders mustered up enough fire power to take the contest in three sets, 25-19, 19-25, and 25-21.
In the first set, Kapa‘a’s Kiah Imai came up with two huge blocks to keep the Warriors close, as Kaua‘i’s Futi Tavana and Kevin Downing crushed home kill after kill.
After a Michael McSheehy slam, Kaua‘i outdistanced themselves from Kapa‘a, 18-15, but the Warriors fought back to tie it up at 18 a piece, thanks to costly Red Raider errors.
Tavana made his presence felt late in the set with two straight kills to put Kaua‘i up for good at 21-19. A Garrett Sakimae/Ryan Nagaoka block sealed the deal for Kaua‘i, as they ran away with a 25-19 first set win.
Kapa‘a didn’t play dead in the second set as they fed off of Kaua‘i errors to go up 7-3. However, the Red Raiders stormed back to cut the advantage with two Tavana spikes but, Kaua‘i continued to make costly mistakes and could not get closer than two points of Kapa‘a. The Warriors grabbed a hold of the second set with a huge block from Imai and Alika Woodward for a 25-19 set win.
The Red Raiders jumped out, 8-3, as Tavana continued his assault on Kapa‘a blockers. The Warriors climbed back into a 9-9 tie, but after a McSheehy kill and a Michah Young dink, Kaua‘i looked like they would run away with the match, but the Warriors, along with an Imai big roof stayed with the Red Raiders at 22-20. Kaua‘i managed to use its talent to forge ahead for the eventual win, 25-21.
Tavana led the Red Raiders with 20 kills and five blocks. McSheehy and Downing also contributed with four kills each. Setter, Sakimae proved to be steady all night and kept Kaua‘i on the attack throughout the whole match.
For Kapa‘a, Lyndon Pascual came up big with five kills and four blocks. Imai also got five slams and Woodward had three blocks and numerous kills. Chris Ramelb, the Kapa‘a quarterback (setter) also did a fine job by spreading the offense and confusing the Kaua‘i defenders.
On the girls side, Kaua‘i seemed as though they had things in control after their first set win, 25-17, but the Kapa‘a girls took a page from the Kapa‘a boys squad and refused to go away quietly. In the end though, the Red Raiders prevailed, 26-24 after being a couple points away from a loss in the third set.
Kehau Judd, Tina Moger, and Jenna Gampon led the Red Raiders in the hitting department. Setter, Ligaya Malones looked like a veteran quarterback, as she took control with precise setting.
Kapa‘a’s Poe Gant and Britney Carvalho came up big in the first set, which kept the Warriors close. Jennifer Lindsey also contributed to the Warrior cause with timely hitting.
In junior varsity action, Kaua‘i took both the boys and girls matches. On the girls side, Megan Vento, Kristen Cummings, and Carie Inouye led the way as the Red Raiders defeated Kapa‘a, 25-6, 25-19.
On the boys side, Kaua‘i’s Jordan Cox was the difference, especially in the third set, with numerous kills and blocks for a 25-17, 20-25, 15-6 win.
