KAPA‘A — After Kapa‘a High played most of their nine seniors in the first game and fell in that one to Kaua‘i High, the Warriors roared back to win three straight games for their first victory of the season on the
KAPA‘A — After Kapa‘a High played most of their nine seniors in the first game and fell in that one to Kaua‘i High, the Warriors roared back to win three straight games for their first victory of the season on the last night of the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation boys volleyball regular season.
The game scores at the Bernice Hundley Gymnasium Saturday were 19-25, 28-26, 25-18 and 25-20.
After resting most of the first game, and getting started slowly in the second game, junior Kekoa Calipano took over for Kapa‘a, amassing three kills, six
assists, two blocks and a
dig in the deciding game, including four assists on kills by senior Jacob Kuhaulua.
Colipano had three assists, an ace, kill and block in game two, and three kills, six assists, a dig and two blocks in game three, while committing just four errors all night.
Seniors Kuhaulua, Cody Abigania, Kelvin Villanueva (two), Kainalu Gayagas and Thomas Gausepohl each had single kills in game one, and senior John Paul Delos Santos had an ace and seven digs on the night while putting on a stellar performance from the back row.
Kapa‘a’s back-row play made a real difference, allowing for returns of Raider slams, particularly in game three, when Rui Yap, Colipano and Abigania had a dig each, and Villanueva had two digs.
The Raiders led from wire to wire in the first game, leading by as many as nine points before the Warriors rallied late to make something of a game of it. The teams combined for 26 errors in game one, 30 in game two, 17 in game three and 22 in game four.
Kapa‘a’s first lead of the night came at 2-1 in the second game, and after ties at 2 and 4 it looked like another Raider romp as Kaua‘i High rattled off seven straight points to race to a 12-6 lead before stalling at 14, when the Warriors went on 6-0 run of their own.
Ties at 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 23, 24, 25 and 26 made for the most excitement of the night, and a long rally at 27-26 Kapa‘a ended only after Yap made one of his many digs, which the Warriors converted for the win, 28-26.
Without much to play for except pride, the players didn’t seem too concerned over unforced errors they made.
Game three saw Kapa‘a gain some momentum, and their first lead of the night that was more than two points, at 10-7, and they never relinquished the lead after going ahead 7-6, and scoring six unanswered points to go up 14-7.
A turning point in game three seemed to come when Kapa‘a Head Coach Matt Gonsalves argued a call at 23-16, asking the game officials if they changed a call “just ‘cause he (Kaua‘i High School Head Coach Merrill Carvalho) said something? What did you see?”
The Raiders would score just two more points the rest of that game, with the Warriors prevailing on a service error by Raider senior Jay Fernandez.
Game four was see-saw for the first few points, the lead changing hands three times before the Warriors tied it at 6, after which they never trailed the rest of the match, with game four ending 25-20 and the Raiders never really in it even though there were ties at 8, 9, 12, 15, 18 and 19.
Lucas Riley led the Raiders with seven kills, senior Kaleo Cummings had six kills but never really got into a rhythm, which was the same story with senior Darren Lapitan, who did manage five kills, two blocks, two digs and an assist.
Senior Lester Alacar had two kills, two digs and a block, and Tyren Hasegawa had 18 assists, four kills, an ace and a block.
“We decided to let our seniors play the first game, and they played with heart and kept it close,” Gonsalves said. “We put our starters back in game two, and the momentum carried them through the rest of the match.”
After going into the match with an 0-7 record, he said it felt very good to win one. “It’s a good way for us to finish our season and, hopefully, something for us to build on for next season,” said Gonsalves.
“I’m impressed with Kaua‘i High,” Gonsalves said about the Raider squad and seniors. “All year long they fought. They’ve got some great players. We were fortunate to beat them because they’re a good team.”
The other Warrior seniors who played their last match are Joseph Velasco, Steven Sanchez and Kekoa Prem.
“My four seniors, they had a great season,” said Carvalho. “Three didn’t play much last year,” he said of Lapitan, Fernandez and Alacar. “Kaleo is the only seasoned veteran
on the team,” whom Carvalho coached for three years when he was head coach at Kapa‘a High before moving to Kaua‘i High this year.
“They’re just an awesome group of boys,” Carvalho said of the Kapa‘a seniors, whom he also coached when he wore Warrior green.
“Very scrappy. Their will to win showed today. They deserved to win. They played hard.”
In junior-varsity action, Kapa‘a won two of three, 25-18, 22-25 and 25-14.
• Paul C. Curtis, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or pcurtis@kauaipubco.com
