PUHI — After winning their first match since the season opener, the Warriors are now on a win streak. Kapaa High School’s varsity girls volleyball team defeated Island School in straight sets Friday night to win its second straight match.
PUHI — After winning their first match since the season opener, the Warriors are now on a win streak.
Kapaa High School’s varsity girls volleyball team defeated Island School in straight sets Friday night to win its second straight match.
Kapaa (3-7 KIF, 2-2 2nd round) won at Island’s Wilcox Gymnasium in Puhi — 25-15, 25-9 and 25-12.
“I think on our end, even tonight, I’m trying to figure it out,” said Kapaa head coach Evan Costa. “I think we get complacent. We wait until the last minute, almost like (we) procrastinate. The first two sets weren’t clean, but finally at the end, ‘Just finish. Just do your job.’
“The second set got a little sloppy. And that’s really been our season — really inconsistent,” he continued. “At least they finished strong. That’s it.”
In the second set, the Warriors opened with a 10-2 run en route to winning by a wide margin. Warriors senior outside hitter Keani Tolenoa led offensively with three kills and an ace in the set.
“They’re getting better, but so is the other teams,” Costa said. “The other teams are getting better, getting faster. Just for our girls, yeah, they are improving — whether it be our blocking, taking care of the ball or making better choices. … The younger players, they started to control that ball a little bit better.”
Island School (3-7 KIF, 1-3 2nd round) took an early lead to start to third set. Voyagers sophomore middle blocker Katie Cook scored on a kill to give Island a 9-4 advantage.
Kapaa eventually caught up. The Warriors evened the score at 10-10 and then took the lead on consecutive aces by sophomore middle Talia Washington.
A kill by Voyagers sophomore middle June Hsu brought Island to just a 13-12 deficit, but then Kapaa started to distance itself to eventually win the set, 25-12.
“It was a pretty good game. We played everybody,” said Island School head coach Gary Maguire. “Everybody’s been working hard all year long, so we planned to let them showcase what they’re capable of. Some of the stuff we worked on practices, we worked on that as well. I’m pretty happy with the girls. They did a lot of stuff right, (and also) had some mental breakdowns and stuff like that. But Kapaa’s a good team, and they played well tonight.”
It’s been a week since Island School lost sophomore outside hitter Ashley Mecham to injury. Mecham had often been one of Island’s scoring leaders.
“They definitely miss Ashley and (having) that power to get back on track,” Macguire said. “So, that’s growing pains where they got to find out what they can do. Who’s going to step up? Who’s going to handle that? And they figuring it out, and I think they’ll get better at it as time goes on.”
Tolenoa finished with seven kills, three digs and an ace for Kapaa. Washington had four kills, two aces and a dig. Sophomore middle Lani Alo had six kills.
Warriors senior setter Rachel Pleas had seven kills, nine assists and a dig. Freshman setter Maeha Piturachsatit had 12 assists, four aces and four digs. Senior libero Anolani Rosa had five digs and two aces.
Hsu ended with four kills, four digs and an ace for Island School. Cook finished with two kills. Sophomore outside hitter Izzy Ancharski had three kills and an assist.
Voyagers senior setter Emma Kelekoma had eight assists and two digs. Sophomore outside hitter Wailea Edwards had three kills and four digs.
Kapaa will host Waimea, and Island School will play at Kauai High on Tuesday. The JV match will begin 5 p.m. and the varsity will follow.
