PUHI — The heavy afternoon and evening rains could not dampen the spirit of the Island School Voyagers who celebrated four of its seniors — June Hsu, Ashley Mecham, Katie Cook, and Ki‘ilani Arruda — with a 3-1 victory over Kapaa High School (they have seven seniors on their roster), Friday night before an appreciative audience that filled the Wilcox Gymnasium.
Earlier in the rainy afternoon, the Junior Varsity Warrior wahine set the stage for the nighttime showdown by extending the first set, 29-27 over the JV Voyagers before nailing the series, 25-12, and 17-25.
Kapaa battled back from a 4-10 deficit in the opening set, Maeha Piturachsatit nailing an ace and senior Talia Washington whacking home a point before a technical error gave the ball back to the Voyagers, 12-15. Talia came back to conk another ball, and Piturachsatit smacked one to deadlock the match 15-15.
Capitalizing on Kapaa errors, the Voyagers pulled ahead on whacks from seniors Mecham and Cook 23-18. The Lady Warriors answered on hits by Tierra Washington, Talia Washington, but the effort came up short — 21-22 — before Mecham and Hsu put away the set.
“We played everyone through all the sets,” said Darrick “Deej” Peleras. “Following Tuesday night, I don’t know how the girls found the energy, but they did. This was just a time to enjoy out on the court.”
Following a Voyager Jaden DeSouza block that knotted the second set, 5-5, Kapaa senior Lani Alo moved the ball to an exchange of service miscues, and Talia moved the Warriors up, 11-7, the green shirts taking advantage of Voyager errors.
The miscues fell on the Warrior court with Cook and Anais Offley taking advantage to knot the contest, 16-16. The stalemate continued until Alo broke the 22-22 deadlock and pull Kapaa ahead 25-22 on Voyager’s mistakes.
“We’re graduating half of our varsity squad,” said Kapaa coach Ari Logan. “We got to play everyone tonight. We have seven, including five starters, leaving. We have another seven, hopefully coming back, and there are seven sophomores on the JV team. We were able to get good playing time for everyone, and we hope the experience helps them.”
Island School responded with a 25-23 advantage in the third set after the Lady Warriors committed a service error and Voyager Wailana Marvin sealing the deal on the set where libero Sydney Jonas served up an ace in her string of six unanswered points that included whacks from Marvin and Hsu for the 16-13 go-ahead.
Kapaa answered to an 18-18 tie on whacks from Chelsea Schneider, and the Washington sisters only to give the side to Island School on a service error.
The Warriors continued to climb out of holes, moving through the fourth set from a 2-5 deficit to knot the contest, 11-11 on a Voyager miscue. The Voyagers pulled ahead on a Mecham block, and a Callie Yavinsky whack to the delight of the Island School crowd before the Voyagers put the final stamp on the set with a Hsu hit.
“This was a special season for me as coach,” Peleras said. “It’s the first time for myself as a high school coach, and the bond between this team is indescribable — it’s exceptional. I’m sorry to see the season end — the seniors have to leave. The biggest accomplishment this season is the girls now believe they can achieve great things. It’s been a great ride.”
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Dennis Fujimoto,staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
