Kaua‘i 3, Waimea 2 Kaua‘i High School’s boys volleyball team proved last night that this was any teams season as the Red Raiders defeated the defending champions, the Menehune, in five sets 19-25,25-23, 22-25, 25-22 and 15-7 at the Raiderdome.
Kaua‘i 3, Waimea 2
Kaua‘i High School’s boys volleyball team proved last night that this was any teams season as the Red Raiders defeated the defending champions, the Menehune, in five sets 19-25,25-23, 22-25, 25-22 and 15-7 at the Raiderdome.
There are no teams left that are undefeated in this Round 1 of Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation play.
Waimea High School’s boys started out strong, defensively, coming up with the much-needed digs to stay alive in Game 1. The Menehune fell behind on multiple occasions, but were able to hold off the Raiders.
In that game, Kaua‘i’s Basil Walton was only held to one kill, but that would be his only bad set of the night. Walton finished the second game with seven kills and was just getting started. Kaua‘i took that game when Aric Cansino connected with Walton for the winning kill.
By Game 3, Waimea had got up to an early five-point lead until Kaua‘i’s Travis Stine broke the momentum with a tip that gave the Raiders possession. But Waimea would later take that game and the advantage in the match.
Kaua‘i, though, forced a fifth set by taking the fourth. The Raiders started off on a low note with a service error, but in the next play, a solo block by Stine on Waimea’s Keelan Sakuda gave the Raiders back the ball.
In this set, Cansino connected with Walton for four straight plays, each of them resulting in kills. This would be the duo’s best set of the night, combining for 11 points. Walton posted 11 of his game-high 26 kills. Cansino posted his personal, KIF best of 45 total assists of the night.
In the final set, Kaua‘i quickly got to the half-way point with an ace by Stine. Cansino would find Sheadon Ringor for the match-winning kill.
Kaua‘i improves to 2-2, while Waimea drops to 2-1.
For the Menehune, setter Jared Matsumoto tossed up 20 assists.
Quinn Gonsalves finished with 11 kills, 11 digs and an ace.
Waimea will host Kapa‘a High School (1-2) starting with junior varsity at 5 p.m. and with the varsity game to follow, no earlier than 6:30 p.m., on Saturday in Waimea.
