Kaua‘i takes lead in Round 1

Kaua‘i High School upset Waimea High School in five grueling games last night at the Kaua‘i gym, 25-23, 25-22, 22-25, 24-26 and 16-14.

Each game was incredibly close as Waimea (2-1) tried to find the proper chemistry on the court, having dealing with the loss of its big hitter Cheri Kua to an injury. The way they did that was to move senior Josey Jacinto around as a hitter and having Qyla Parangao to hit.

The first game, though, was sloppy playing by both teams. Kaua‘i (3-1) had eight service errors and Waimea had six. Kaua‘i’s Carly Matsumoto cleaned it in the end with a game-winning ace.

A hit by Jamilee Jimenez gave Kaua‘i the win for Game 2.

It seemed as though Kaua‘i started to run out of gas in the third as Waimea took a 9-point lead at 22-13. But Waimea suffered another blow to its roster when just as they were in the middle of the final play, Jacinto went down with an injury to her left ankle.

She was done for the rest of the night, finishing the game with four kills, six assists and five aces in three games.

Waimea forced a fifth game after a long rally at game-point. A tip by Tia Agader landed just on the other side of the net to give Waimea the win in extra points.

The fifth game was just as close as the fourth. Waimea had the early advantage getting to match point first, but an under-the-net call against Waimea tied it at 14. Jori Jasper registered a kill, one of her three kills on the night, to give the advantage to Kaua‘i.

Jimenez sealed the win over Waimea with her final kill of the night. She was almost unstoppable for the match, finishing with 15 kills. Setter Jewel Villatora tossed up 28 assists and Kara Cummings had 13.

Waimea’s Parangao had 18 assists, Tatum Gonsalves had 14 kills and Brytney Yadao-Lanning had 10.

Waimea will play Kapa‘a High School (0-3) on Saturday. A Waimea win would force a Round 1 playoff between Waimea and Kaua‘i.

On the junior varsity side, Waimea won in three games, 25-23, 25-15 and 25-18.