LIHU‘E — Waimea captured the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation boys varsity volleyball championship with a 3-1 victory over the Red Raiders at Kaua‘i High School last night. Kaua‘i did not go down without a fight, and took a 1-0 lead with a
LIHU‘E — Waimea captured the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation boys varsity volleyball championship with a 3-1 victory over the Red Raiders at Kaua‘i High School last night.
Kaua‘i did not go down without a fight, and took a 1-0 lead with a 25-21 victory in the first game. With the score tied at 20, the Red Raiders went on a run to claim five of the next six points and take the early advantage in the match.
Kaua‘i had a 12-10 lead in the second game when Waimea collected nine straight points and went on to win 25-16, evening the match at a game apiece.
The Menehune continued their solid play and notched a 25-10 victory in the third game, closing the contest with a 16-4 run.
Game four was much tighter, as neither team had more than a three-point lead throughout. Kaua‘i had a 25-24 lead and seemed ready to push the match to a fifth and deciding game, but Jared Matsumoto found David Ka‘ohelauli‘i for the Waimea kill to square the game at 25-25.
With the score tied at 28, Darren Lapitan took the Austine Acorda set and finished with his eighth kill of the match to give Kaua‘i another one-point lead. Waimea would not surrender another score as they closed match with three straight points, the final two coming on net violations. The Menehune survived a tough battle, netting the 31-29 win.
Waimea was led by seniors Kalani Apilado, Keaka Canute, Brenden Cristobal, Quinn Gonsalves, David Hesapene, Jacob Ka‘ohelauli‘i, Keola Keamoai and Jared Matsumoto, playing their final regular-season match for the Menehune.
“We’re a veteran team,” said Waimea head coach Tony Magaoay. “Even when we were down, it was that veteran experience that brought us back.
“That was the best I saw Kaua‘i play all season. We really stole that one away. I’m just glad we got it.”
Kaua‘i seniors Jay Fernandez, Lester Alacar, Lapitan and Kaleo Cummings were honored before the game in front of their home crowd.
“We have four great seniors and our team played hard tonight,” said Merrill Carvalho, Kaua‘i’s head coach. “Waimea was the better team tonight. My hat goes off to them. They’re always scrappy and they have a great coaching staff.”
Matsumoto led Waimea with 23 assists in the match. David Ka‘ohelauli‘i finished off 14 points with kills and led his squad with 10 blocks.
Tyren Hasegawa had 16 assists for the Red Raiders. Cummings played big at the net, notching 12 kills. Cody Morden had nine blocks.
David Simon, sports writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 237) or dsimon@kauaipubco.com
