WAIMEA — Waimea High School’s girls volleyball team celebrated senior night with another win over Kapa‘a last night to clinch this year’s KIF championship title. Waimea took the match in three games, 25-21, 25-16 and 25-17, remaining undefeated at 7-0.
WAIMEA — Waimea High School’s girls volleyball team celebrated senior night with another win over Kapa‘a last night to clinch this year’s KIF championship title. Waimea took the match in three games, 25-21, 25-16 and 25-17, remaining undefeated at 7-0. With the loss, Kapa‘a drops to 2-5.
The win guarantees the team a spot in the Division II Hawai‘i State Volleyball tournament on O‘ahu early next month. The last time Waimea made it to the tournament was in 2001.
A KIF title was just how Waimea senior hitter Nue Wong wanted to end the season.
“I’ve been waiting for this since my freshman year,” Wong said. “My freshman and sophomore year we fell short. Then I had to sit out my junior year because of my knee injury, so it feels really good to come out on top.”
She finished the night with 18 kills. Teammates Chaslee Delanoza, Brytney Lanning, Cheri Kua and Tialei Agader hit for a combined 14 kills. Setter Nani Dennis tossed it up for 25 assists.
Winning the title this year came as a pleasant surprise for head coach Chad Delanoza.
“It hadn’t hit me just yet,” he said. “They work hard together and I’m proud of them, but it’s not over yet. We still have one more game.”
It was a very different night for the boys as Kapa‘a (3-4) snapped Waimea’s winning streak in four games, 25-27, 25-22, 25-22 and 26-24. The Menehune fall to 6-1.
Waimea head coach Tony Magaoay shook his head in disbelief.
“We just got spanked,” he said.
An elated Kapa‘a team jumped around each other in celebration.
Kapa‘a’s Chance Bukoski had a big night with 13 kills.
“It feels good to finally beat them,” he said. “I couldn’t have done it with all my teammates, my friends.”
Teammates Danny Rodrick, Kila Youn and Kunane Gayagas combined for 25 kills.
At the end of the match, head coach Merrill Carvalho couldn’t wipe the smile off his face.
“It’s so good that they finally showed up mentally to play against Waimea,” he said. “I told them at the beginning of the night that I wanted two things from them. First, I wanted them to play as hard as they can because we still have a chance at the KIF title. And second, I told them to go out there and just have fun and that’s exactly what they did tonight.”
Kapa‘a has Wednesday off, while Waimea travels to Kaua‘i. Another Waimea loss would leave the boys’ KIF title up for grabs.
