WAIMEA — The Waimea Menehune are in a familiar position after Wednesday night’s 3-1 victory over the Kaua‘i Red Raiders at the Clem Gomes Gym in Waimea. The Menehune now sit at 4-1 in the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation’s second round,
WAIMEA — The Waimea Menehune are in a familiar position after Wednesday night’s 3-1 victory over the Kaua‘i Red Raiders at the Clem Gomes Gym in Waimea.
The Menehune now sit at 4-1 in the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation’s second round, one game ahead of the Raiders (3-2) and Kapa‘a Warriors (3-2), and can win the second round outright with a victory on Saturday against the Warriors.
The same scenario existed for the first round, as all three teams had these same records entering the final matches. Kapa‘a played spoiler to force a three-way playoff, then came away with the first-round championship.
David Kaohelauli‘i was the driving force for the Menehune in their 25-23, 19-25, 25-17, 25-16 win, finishing with a match-high 20 kills, 15 of them coming in the final two sets.
Beau Acoba led the defensive frontline, leading the team with 11 blocks. Setter Corey McDown had 24 assists, while also getting to five digs.
Chase Parongao led the way with nine digs, including a diving effort in the final set that went for a point, reminiscent of a forehand winner on the tennis court.
Kalen McCracken put up 10 blocks and three kills for the Menehune.
Kaua‘i’s Tyren Hasegawa and Austin Simao each led the Raiders with 13 kills.
Setter Austine Acorda had 15 assists, while Silas Gerardo had 11 kills and four digs.
The opening set had Waimea holding a slight lead throughout, but keeping it in the two to three point range for the majority of the action, until Kaua‘i used a 6-1 run to even the score at 23-23. Waimea responded by taking the next two points, ending the set as a Kaua‘i kill attempt landed wide.
The Raiders jumped ahead in the second set by using a 7-2 run to move ahead 19-14 and force a Menehune timeout. They didn’t let Waimea back within striking distance and evened the match at one set apiece with the six-point victory.
The third set was all Waimea, as Kaohelauli‘i put the team on his back and finished every feed that was set his way. He gave Waimea a 12-5 lead by finishing off his ninth kill of the set. The team coasted from there and a Kaua‘i shot into the net put it in a 2-1 hole.
A pair of Kaili Lagundino aces, using a high-arcing, short-landing serve, gave Waimea a 12-9 advantage. It built that lead up to seven at 20-13 and a pass from McDown to Kaohelauli‘i ended the evening.
In the other varsity matchup Wednesday, the Island School Voyagers seemed on the verge of their first win of the 2010 KIF season, holding a 2-1 lead over Kapa‘a, but the Warriors ralllied to win the match, 15-12 in the fifth set.
Kapa‘a escaped with a 25-16, 17-25, 19-25, 25-21, 15-12 win to keep itself alive for the outright season title.
In JV action in Waimea, the Menehune came from behind to score a 21-25, 25-20, 25-22 win over the Raiders.
The season’s final regular-season contests are Saturday, as Kapa‘a hosts Waimea and Kaua‘i hosts Island School.
JV matches will begin at 5 p.m., with varsity taking the floor no earlier than 6:30 p.m.
A Waimea victory over Kapa‘a would give it the second-round title and would mean the two teams will play once more for the season title, each having won one round.
A Kapa‘a win over Waimea would create a second-round playoff, which would also include Kaua‘i if it beats Island School.
