KAPA‘A — With a second chance at a Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation title, the Waimea Menehune didn’t let this one slip away, coming away with a 25-20, 23-25, 27-25, 25-21 win over the Kapa‘a Warriors to win the second-round championship, Saturday
KAPA‘A — With a second chance at a Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation title, the Waimea Menehune didn’t let this one slip away, coming away with a 25-20, 23-25, 27-25, 25-21 win over the Kapa‘a Warriors to win the second-round championship, Saturday night at Kapa‘a High School.
The Waimea victory made it 5-1 in the season’s second round, taking the outright lead in the standings and making a playoff unnecessary.
Kapa‘a, the season’s first-round champs, will now battle the Menehune one more time for the KIF crown.
The match will take place at 6:30 p.m., Tuesday at Waimea High School. The location was determined by a coin toss after Saturday’s match.
Waimea had the same opportunity in the season’s first round, needing to win the final match against Kapa‘a to finish in first. Kapa‘a spoiled their hopes, but was unable to duplicate that scenario this time around.
The Kaua‘i Red Raiders would have been the other beneficiaries of a Kapa‘a win, Saturday, having knocked off the Island School Voyagers 3-0 (25-18, 25-20, 25-23) to move to 4-2 in the second round. Had the Warriors won, all three schools would sit at 4-2 with another three-way playoff in store.
It was not to be, as David Kaohelaulii led Waimea with 23 kills in the match.
Corey McDown put up 24 assists, nine blocks, four kills and three digs.
Kevin Killerman had 12 kills for the Menehune, also adding five blocks.
Kalen McCracken was all over the net, ending up with 17 blocks.
On Senior Night at Kapa‘a, the Warriors were led up front by senior Sean Shigematsu. He came away with 17 kills and 15 blocks.
Fellow senior Kekoa Colipano had 27 assists to go with three digs.
Stephen Greenleaf continued to showcase his leaping ability with 12 kills and three blocks. Matt Domingcil added six kills and six blocks.
Weston Moniz finished with eight kills, seven digs and three blocks.
Waimea took the early lead by using a late 5-1 run to go up 21-16 in the opening set. Up 24-20, it benefited from a Kapa‘a error to go up 1-0 in the match.
The Warriors responded in the second set, using a 10-2 run capped by a Moniz ace to grab a 19-14 lead. Waimea came all the way back and evened things at 23-23, but Kapa‘a took the next point and a Menehune kill attempt struck wide to knot the match at one set apiece.
The third set was a back-and-forth battle, as Waimea took a 23-20 lead, only to see Shigematsu come away with two straight kills to even things at 24-24. Again trailing 26-25, a Kapa‘a player went under the net coming down off a leap to give Waimea the point and the 2-1 match lead.
The Menehune closed things out when, leading 23-21, McDown put away a kill on the second hit to throw off the Warriors, who then saw their kill attempt sail long on match point.
In the final junior varsity matchups of the season, Waimea was a 2-0 winner over Kapa‘a, 25-22, 25-20. Kaua‘i and Island School went three sets, with Kaua‘i pulling out the 24-26, 25-12, 25-10 victory.
