WAIMEA — The Pearl City High School boys volleyball team arrived and took its first match — 25-21, 28-26, and 25-19 — against the varsity Waimea High School team Thursday night at the Clem Gomes Gym in Waimea.
Earlier in the evening, the Junior Varsity Waimea controlled the JV Chargers, 25-16, 25-22, and 25-16.
Pearl City, an O‘ahu Interscholastic Federation Division II team, continues its trip around Kaua‘i with matches scheduled against Kaua‘i, Kapa‘a, and Island high schools before leaving.
“This trip has been three years in planning,” said Pearl City coach Sean Chang. “We faced Kapa‘a in the state tournament a few times and wanted to play against the other Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation teams as well. When we were ready to come over, the COVID-19 pandemic hit. It’s been a long wait.”
Friday, the Chargers play Kaua‘i High School at the Kaua‘i High School gym with the JV contest tipping off at 5 p.m. followed by the varsity match.
Saturday, the Chargers do a double-header starting with its contest against Kapa‘a at the Bernice Hundley Gym when the JV contest tips off starting at 9 a.m. followed by the varsity contest. The Chargers wrap up its Kaua‘i tour, Saturday evening by traveling to the Wilcox Gymnasium on the Island School campus where the JV tips off at 5 p.m. and the varsity contest against the Voyagers follow.
In addition to Pearl City coming to visit the island, Coach Clarence Sales of Lynx basketball announced that coal Bri Ramos of Elite Artistry, an O‘ahu team, and Coach Vitor Aguirre of the Maui Sparks will be participating in a 6-team tournament for Girls 8th Grade Under, starting Friday afternoon at the Kalaheo Neighborhood Center.
Participating teams from Kaua‘i include Sales’ Lynx, the Ballers with Coach Ron Miura, the Hoopstars with Coach John Quinones, and Westside with Coach Jason Peralta.
Tournament play starts at 6:30 p.m., Friday with the Elite Artistry and Maui Sparks tipping off at 8:30 p.m.
Saturday play starts at 8 a.m. at the Kalaheo Neighborhood Center. The championship contest is scheduled to tip off, Sunday at 1 p.m.
On the Clem Gomes arena, the Chargers and Menehune exchanged points throughout the first set with the Chargers not allowing the Menehune closer than two points. Leading 18-16, the Chargers took over on hits from Sebastian Buell-Galo, Christian Ronquilio, Sile Sataraka, and despite answering hammers from Menehune Ty Tsukayama and Kelani Lewis, Waimea stumbled on a hitting error to close the set.
With renewed confidence, Waimea opened the second set to create a five-point buffer on a Pearl City service error. The Chargers responded to pull within one on back-to-back hits from Keahi Kaneakua only to have Waimea’s Isaiah Espanto hammer back. A Menehune net violation knotted the contest, 18-18 from where the Chargers pulled ahead and sealed the deal on Menehune miscues.
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
