WAIMEA — The Waimea Menehune took their second win of the young season and avoided a decisive fifth set by knocking off the Kapa‘a Warriors 3-1, Friday night at the Clem Gomes Gym in Waimea. Waimea (2-0) won by scores
WAIMEA — The Waimea Menehune took their second win of the young season and avoided a decisive fifth set by knocking off the Kapa‘a Warriors 3-1, Friday night at the Clem Gomes Gym in Waimea.
Waimea (2-0) won by scores of 25-19, 20-25, 25-19, 25-19 and now sit in a first-place tie with the Kaua‘i Red Raiders, who got a 3-0 win over the Island School Voyagers in Puhi (25-15, 25-17, 25-23).
The Menehune were led by Kevin Killerman’s match-high 20 kills, to go with five blocks.
Kalen McCracken had 15 kills, 11.5 blocks and three aces on the night. Kaili Lagundino had seven kills and six blocks, while Jonathon Tangalin had a match-high 34 assists for Waimea.
Matt Domingcil led Kapa‘a (0-2) with 10 kills to go with two blocks. Weston Moniz had six kills, three assists and 2.5 blocks in the contest.
Adam Clark was all over the net for the Warriors, finishing with 11 blocks. Kainoa Colipano had five kills and five blocks, while Bradley Coloma had a team-high 14 assists.
Waimea took command of the opening set, racing out to a 10-1 advantage before Kapa‘a was able to get settled. Trailing 18-7, the Warriors got back into the mix with a 5-0 run and still trailed by six points at 23-17. But Waimea’s Lagundino finished a kill to give his team seven set points and the Menehune took the set two points later on a Kapa‘a service error.
The Warriors led for most of the second set, sustaining a four-to-six point margin for much of the action. Ahead 24-20, Domingcil had the capper with a kill on a Coloma feed to even things at 1-1.
The third set went back and forth and was tied at 12-12 when Waimea gained control with a 5-1 run. Kapa‘a clawed back to within two at 21-19, but would not pick up another point and a Warrior kill went wide on the first set point to give the Menehune a 2-1 edge in the match.
The fourth followed the same pattern, with Waimea clinging to a small lead until it closed the night on a 7-1 run, the final point awarded on a Kapa‘a net violation.
In the junior varsity match, Kapa‘a came away with a 2-1 victory by scores of 25-23, 24-26, 25-14 over the Waimea JV.
The Red Raider JV squad picked up a three-set win (25-18, 23-25, 25-11) against Island School.
The boys are back in action Tuesday when Kaua‘i hosts Waimea to determine the early leader in the standings and Island School hosts Kapa‘a with each team looking for its first victory.
JV will begin at 5 p.m., followed by varsity beginning no earlier than 6:30 p.m.
