LIHU‘E — Having lost the season’s opening match in five sets to the Raiders, the Kapa‘a Warriors exacted some revenge Friday night as they pulled out a 3-1 win over Kaua‘i at the Raider Dome in Lihu‘e. Taking control by
LIHU‘E — Having lost the season’s opening match in five sets to the Raiders, the Kapa‘a Warriors exacted some revenge Friday night as they pulled out a 3-1 win over Kaua‘i at the Raider Dome in Lihu‘e.
Taking control by winning the first two sets, Kapa‘a made sure it didn’t face a decisive fifth set by going on an 11-2 run midway through the fourth for a 21-13 lead. The Warriors set up eight match points when Kainoa Colipano finished off a Tyrus Moises pass for a 24-16 advantage, before Weston Moniz had the closing kill on the very next point.
The win moves Kapa‘a (2-2) to within one game of Kaua‘i (3-1) in the season standings, with two matches still to play in the first round.
Moniz led the Warriors with 10 kills, also putting up 1.5 blocks and an ace.
Matt Domingcil was ferocious on the outside, finishing with nine kills, while Brad Heiser had eight. Colipano finished up with seven kills and six blocks.
Adam Clark had three kills and 2.5 blocks, while Austin Delos Santos scored two kills and three blocks.
Setter Bradley Coloma had a team-high 20 assists, with Moises also pitching in 12.
Kaua‘i was led by Donovan Harrison’s match-highs in both kills and blocks, finishing with 16 and 13, respectively.
Dane Bautista had seven kills and three blocks, while Blaise Ferguson had six kills.
Kaleo Tin had four kills, four digs, 2.5 blocks and four aces. Jake Leake finished up with four kills and five blocks.
Setter Jon Butac had 26 assists while serving up five aces, 5.5 blocks and two kills.
Trailing by as many as four in the early going of the first set, Kaua‘i evened things up at 16-16 after back-to-back aces from Butac. The Raiders moved ahead 19-17 to cap an 8-2 run and later led 22-20. Yet the Warriors called timeout and re-grouped, winning three straight points and then going ahead 24-23 on a Domingcil spike. The set point had the same result as Coloma set up Domingcil once again and Kapa‘a took the 1-0 lead in the match.
The second set was close again and another Butac ace evened things up at 18-18. But again, out of a timeout, Kapa‘a put together a 5-1 run, capped by a Hunter Hudson ace that just clipped the back line for a 23-19 lead. Heiser had a kill for a 24-21 lead and two points later, it was Domingcil who had the capper again for a 25-22 set win and a 2-0 match lead.
Kaua‘i trailed by four again in the early stages of the third set, but showed it didn’t feel like giving up just yet. An 11-1 run gave the Raiders control with a 17-11 lead, and a Tin kill gave them nine set points at 24-15. It only took three, when a Warrior service error gave the Raiders the set.
Tin scored back-to-back aces early in the fourth for a 7-6 lead, but Kapa‘a quickly responded with that 11-2 run that set up of the final chain of events.
The evening’s other varsity match made the standings much more interesting as the Island School Voyagers picked up their first victory of the season with a 3-0 win over the Waimea Menehune at the Clem Gomes Gym on the Westside.
Island School (1-3) won with set scores of 25-23, 25-18, 25-21 over Waimea (2-2).
Junior varsity results from Island School-Waimea were unavailable at press time.
In the Kaua‘i-Kapa‘a JV contest, the Raiders came away with the victory by scores of 25-21 and 25-17, before dropping the third set 21-25.
The boys will take the floor again Tuesday, when Kapa‘a hosts Waimea at the Bernice Hundley Gym, while Island School hosts Kaua‘i in Puhi. JV will start at 5 p.m., with varsity to follow.
