KAPA‘A — Staying in first place wasn’t an easy task, but the Kapa‘a Warriors improved to 3-0 in the season’s second round with a five-set victory over the Island School Voyagers, Tuesday night at the Bernice Hundley Gym in Kapa‘a.
KAPA‘A — Staying in first place wasn’t an easy task, but the Kapa‘a Warriors improved to 3-0 in the season’s second round with a five-set victory over the Island School Voyagers, Tuesday night at the Bernice Hundley Gym in Kapa‘a.
The Warriors remained atop the standings with a 25-18, 26-28, 25-17, 28-30, 15-12 win on their home court.
Out on the Westside, the Waimea Menehune took sole possession of second place and remained just a game behind Kapa‘a with a four-set victory over first-round champion Kaua‘i.
Waimea, now 2-1 in the second round, got a big performance from Kevin Killerman up front to notch a 25-18, 25-21, 20-25, 27-25 victory, stifling the Red Raider comeback attempt. Kaua‘i drops to 1-2 in the second round, after a 5-1 first round.
The Voyagers, coming up short in Kapa‘a, are now 0-3 in the second round having lost all three matches in five sets.
The Warriors picked up six match points when Tyrus Moises fed Matt Domingcil for a kill and a 14-8 lead in the fifth set. They need five of them, as Island School fought off four straight.
But Bradley Heiser’s kill attempt was too much for the Voyager front line to handle cleanly and Kapa‘a came away with the win.
Kanoa Nartatez led the Warriors with 14 kills on the night. Domingcil was second on the team with 13 — six of them coming in the deciding fifth set. He also added 2.5 blocks.
Kainoa Colipano put up 11 kills and 7.5 blocks, while Adam Clark posted 10 kills and nine blocks up front. Heiser had nine kills. Weston Moniz had six kills, three blocks and three digs.
Bradley Coloma and Moises each had 21 assists to lead the Warriors, while Hunter Hudson had five digs.
Brennan Wortmann had a match-high 15 kills for Island School. He also added 3.5 blocks and three digs.
Sam Dunham had 10 kills and two digs. Canaan Higa had eight kills and 7.5 blocks, while Brandon Taylor had six kills and three blocks.
Logan Domingo had a match-high 35 assists to go with five kills and three digs.
Kapa‘a used a 13-4 run in the opening set to take a 22-16 lead. The Warriors then grabbed six set points after Nartatez finished off a kill. They only needed one, when a Voyager shot sailed long to close the first set.
Island School started hot in the second and took a 10-4 lead, but Kapa‘a again used a big run of 14-5 and took a 20-17 advantage. Colipano and Austin Delos Santos combined on a double block to put Kapa‘a up 24-23, but Taylor finished off a Domingo feed to even things up at 24-24. The teams continued to trade points until a Kapa‘a error gave Island School a 27-26 lead. After a long rally, a Warrior shot found the net, evening things at 1-1.
The third set was tight until Kapa‘a closed things out with a 14-6 run, capped off by a Colipano solo block for the winner and a 2-1 lead in the match.
The Voyagers scored the first five points of the fourth set and never once trailed as they picked up two set points at 24-22 after a Warrior shot went wide. But Kapa‘a saved both points and the two again went back and forth.
The Voyagers led 29-28, when Domingo set up a feed for Wortmann, which he slammed home for the winner and evened the match at 2-2.
Up 6-5 in the fifth set, Kapa‘a went on a 6-2 run, which concluded with a Domingcil kill off a Moises feed for a 12-7 lead. Domingcil added two more kills in the next three points to go ahead 14-8, setting up the final sequence.
In the Kapa‘a-Island School junior varsity match, the Voyagers were a 2-1 winner (25-21, 22-25, 26-24).
In the Kaua‘i-Waimea JV contest, the Raiders swept the three sets (27-25, 25-20, 25-17).
The boys are back on the floor Saturday — not their usual Friday — as the Voyagers will host the Menehune in Puhi with an early 10 a.m. start for JV, followed by varsity.
The Warriors will host the Red Raiders in Kapa‘a with JV beginning at 5 p.m., followed by varsity.
