WAIMEA — The Warriors still have not been defeated. Kapaa High School’s boys volleyball team started the second round of the season with a 3-1 victory at Waimea on Tuesday night. Kapaa (7-0, 1-0 in second round) won by scores
WAIMEA — The Warriors still have not been defeated.
Kapaa High School’s boys volleyball team started the second round of the season with a 3-1 victory at Waimea on Tuesday night.
Kapaa (7-0, 1-0 in second round) won by scores of 25-12, 25-13, 15-25, 25-22.
“The first two sets, I think we played very well … They stayed pretty up. They stayed pretty motivated,” said Kapaa head coach Kapule Kaona.
After getting a two-set lead, Kaona said he put in his reserves expecting to finish the meet. That third set was the only one in which Waimea (2-5, 0-1 in second round) came out on top.
“On any given day, I have enough confidence and faith my reserves can still play a good game … We see it in practice and that’s what I expected out of them,” Kaona said.
The final set was much more closely contested.
The scoring went back and forth until Kapaa ultimately sealed the deal.
“It was kind of rough. How we played was kind of down because we lost the third (set),” said Warriors junior left back Rudy Agoot. “We just had to tell each other to keep rolling. We can’t stop here.”
Waimea head coach Enoka Karratti said the team is improving but still has to minimize mistakes.
“Service errors killed us tonight,” the Menehune coach said. “(Also) the little things. Moving, anticipating a little more and some ball handling mistakes.
“That kind of things we can control. I think the guys have just got caught up in the moment trying not to make the mistake, and that’s when they make mistakes. It’s just the growing pains, but I think they’re doing OK,” Karratti added.
Junior outside hitter Robert Oliver Jr. was Waimea’s go-to guy throughout the meet. He scored the majority of Waimea’s points.
“We just had more energy. We weren’t worried about nothing,” Oliver said about winning the third set. “We just got to play a little bit harder.”
While it’s good Oliver played well, it’s important to incorporate his other players in the team’s offense, Karratti added.
“I think our setters get comfortable setting (Oliver). They pretty much trust that he’s going to do something positive with the ball,” Karratti said. “That’s a good thing, but we want to make sure our setters try and get the rest of the guys in, too.
“(Oliver) is always going to pull double blocks, triple blocks. In order for us to counter that, we got to make sure our setters are spreading out the ball,” he added.
Kapaa hopes to keep its unbeaten streak in tact on Friday evening when the team plays at home against Kauai.
“I know that Kauai High is going to bring their best game,” Kaona said. “They’re very well-coached. They’re very good at making adjustments. I expect to see some adjustments on their end … For us, we’re sticking with what has gotten us to this point.”
Waimea will also play Friday at Island School. At both Kapaa and Island School, junior varsity games will start at 5 p.m. and varsity games will start no earlier than 6:30 p.m.
