LIHU‘E — The Waimea Lady Menehune came into their Saturday matchup a perfect 7-0 on the season. They left their showdown against the Kaua‘i Red Raiders (5-3) with that undefeated record barely intact. Waimea notched a dramatic 25-16, 25-12, 18-25,
LIHU‘E — The Waimea Lady Menehune came into their Saturday matchup a perfect 7-0 on the season. They left their showdown against the Kaua‘i Red Raiders (5-3) with that undefeated record barely intact.
Waimea notched a dramatic 25-16, 25-12, 18-25, 25-27, 15-13 road victory at Kaua‘i High School to improve to 8-0 in the team’s biggest test so far during the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation season.
Waimea was the aggressor from the start and got some separation during a 7-1 run in the opening game to extend to an 18-9 lead. From there, the Lady Menehune played evenly with the Raiders until Fiare Moe found Hamiha Arquette for the final kill and the early 1-0 advantage.
Moe had nine assists in that opening game, while middle blocker Brandee Victorino had four kills for Waimea.
Kaua‘i continued to look flat for much of the second game and Waimea took full advantage. Two Moe aces gave Waimea an early 8-1 lead. The ace ended up being a theme throughout that second game, as Kaua‘i’s Teal Basquez collected two of her own, but Victorino closed out the contest with three consecutive unreturned serves, giving the Lady Menehune what appeared to be a safe
2-0 lead in the match.
Victorino had four aces total in the game, while adding another five kills to her tally. Moe added 10 assists and Arquette had three kills. Basquez had three digs for Kaua‘i.
The early portion of the third game seemed like more of the same, when another Victorino ace gave Waimea an early 7-3 edge. But Kaua‘i came storming back with newfound energy and eventually took a 21-18 lead after outside hitter Krystin Yasay finished off the longest point of the match.
Janessa Grady served two straight aces to up the lead to 24-18 and a Waimea error ended the game and gave Kaua‘i new life.
The Raiders dug themselves an early hole again in the fourth game, but once again, they fought from behind and a Shyanne Sadora ace tied the game at 14-14. Three Malia Kagawa kills off of feeds from Grady later evened the score at 22-22.
The Lady Menehune tried to close out the match as Quincee Parongao’s set for Arquette was true and two match points came with it at 24-22. Kaua‘i survived both and took a 26-25 lead, before Yasay again had the game-winner on a feed from Grady.
Grady had 10 assists in the game, with Kagawa on the receiving end of six. Sadora was all over the court, notching an ace, a kill and three blocks. Jayme Jacinto had five kills for Waimea.
The fifth and decisive game played out the way the rest of the match had, with Waimea taking an 11-6 lead, but unable to fully hold it. A Basquez ace was followed by an incredible dig by Carly Matsumoto, which actually went for a winner and cut the deficit to two.
Setter Waileia Kanealii was finding teammates with perfect sets and the Raiders tied the game at 13 points apiece. However, that would be as close as they would come to becoming Waimea’s first victorious opponent.
Leading 14-13, Victorino and Robin Moura were each in on a block that fell back over the net and gave Waimea the 15-13, fifth game victory.
Kaua‘i’s Grady ended the match with 14 assists and three digs, while Victorino had 17 kills for Waimea. Moe had 31 assists for the Lady Menehune.
In JV action, Waimea took two out of three, notching a narrow 20-25, 25-22, 25-23 victory.
