LIHUE — After losing the first set, Kapaa High School’s boys volleyball team won the next three to beat Kauai 3-1 on Friday night. “I think the taste of last year’s loss in the championship game was still in the
LIHUE — After losing the first set, Kapaa High School’s boys volleyball team won the next three to beat Kauai 3-1 on Friday night.
“I think the taste of last year’s loss in the championship game was still in the boys’ minds. That was kind of our motivation,” said Kapaa head coach Kapule Kaona. “I think there was a lot of adrenaline that came in, maybe a little bit too much excitement that they kind of had and didn’t really settle down … We knew it was a big game. It was a big win for us.”
Kapaa (2-0) had a double digit lead during the third set, but Kauai inched back into the game and cut the lead to one point. The Warriors then took control down the stretch to win the set 25-23.
“We just kind of relaxed, so the momentum (shifted) to Kauai High’s side,” said Warriors senior outside hitter Kristoffer Astrero. “Our coach said we had to fight back to (take back the momentum).”
Kauai (1-1) had a three-point lead late in the fourth set, then Kapaa charged back to even the score at 24. The Warriors then scored the next two points to win the set 26-24 and sealed the victory.
“Our coach said that we go to practice to get stronger,” Astrero said. “In the game, we were prepared. We knew what we were doing (in that situation).”
Red Raiders head coach Merrill Carvalho said the team played well when its energy was high but couldn’t sustain it as the game progressed.
“When we don’t have that energy and things start to unravel, we cannot pass and the setting isn’t there for our hitters,” he said. “We start to fall apart and then we press.
Those are the things we’re going to be working on — playing with high energy, playing disciplined volleyball and see what happens from there,” Carvalho added.
Red Raiders junior middle Tyler Fernandez also said the energy wasn’t there for his team during the game.
“We tried to keep it going in the fourth set, but in the end we just couldn’t finish,” Fernandez said. “We didn’t want to lose. We wanted to keep the winning streak going. Just heartbreaking to lose like that.”
Kaona said he will emphasize not allowing the opponent to get on a roll, especially when his team has a large lead.
“We got to mentally stay in the game and not go on vacation,” he said. “That’s going to be our focus so we don’t see that happen again.”
Before the Warriors won the last two sets, Kauai won the first set 25-22 and Kapaa took the second 25-16.
Kapaa will play at Island School and Kauai will play at Waimea on Tuesday. Junior varsity games will begin at 5 p.m. and the varsity contests will start no earlier than 6:30 p.m.
