PUHI — The Warriors unbeaten streak is at seven matches.
Kapaa High School’s varsity boys volleyball team defeated Island School, 3-0, Tuesday night at the Wilcox Gymnasium on the Island School campus to start the season’s second round.
Kapaa (7-0 KIF, 1-0 2nd round) won in straight sets over Island — 25-14, 25-9, 25-10.
“I thought it was good. I thought we came in pretty loose tonight. Our team played loose and with great energy,” said Kapaa head coach Kapule Kaona. “We’ve been working on that in the gym — how do we come out and have fun, and not have a lot of pressure on us? I thought we did a good job.”
In Tuesday’s match, Kaona opted to give reserve players more action.
Among them was senior Raine Youn, who totaled eight kills and three aces including scoring the set-winning points in the second and third sets.
Also, Warriors setter Kurtis Fujito-Pascua totaled a match-high 34 assists.
“I was very stoked for what we call our ‘B team,’ coming in and getting some crucial minutes,” Kaona said. “I thought our setter did a good job. He stepped in full time for this game, and I thought he set a good game. He played fairly loose, and he tends to put a lot of pressure on himself, but I thought he did awesome. He made great decisions.
“Even our bench that came off. On the third set, I think we were up , 15-2. We were able to keep them down to two points for a majority of the set, and that’s tough to do, and that was our B team that did that. That shows that they minimized their errors and they were putting the pressure on Island School.”
Island School (0-7 KIF, 0-1 2nd round) held an early lead in the first set. Kapaa, though, would even the score at 3-3 on a kill by Ala Gonsalves and then take a 4-3 lead on a kill Kiran Costa.
“It’s another loss, but I don’t think the score tells you how hard these kids worked tonight,” said Island School head coach Erin Nitta. “We were making plays. We were digging some balls. We were making awesome blocks and putting some balls down. It’s just that Kapaa had one up on us, maybe two. I give Kapaa credit because they didn’t let up on us.”
Island School’s Aidan Offley led the Voyagers with three kills, three blocks and two aces.
“He’s definitely one of our seasoned players, one of the two seniors,” Nitta said of Offley. “He’s also played multiple positions, so he’s well-rounded.”
Costa led Kapaa with nine kills and two aces. Robert “Ali‘i” Brown had four blocks, three kills and an ace. Nathan Gardner ad six kills and a block.
Island School’s Dylan Date had two kills. Josh Dobashi had four assists.
Kapaa will play at Kauai High School (4-3 KIF, 1-0 2nd round) on Friday. The junior varsity game will begin at 5 p.m. and the varsity will follow.
Island School play at Waimea High School (3-4 KIF, 0-1 2nd round) at 6 p.m. Friday.
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Nick Celario, sports writer, can be reached at 245-0437 or ncelario@thegardenisland.com.
