WAIMEA — The Waimea Menehune found themselves in a rare position — down early. With the Kapa‘a Warriors stretching a first set lead and the Menehune making unforced errors, Waimea head coach Enoka Karratti’s squad reached into its back pocket
WAIMEA — The Waimea Menehune found themselves in a rare position — down early. With the Kapa‘a Warriors stretching a first set lead and the Menehune making unforced errors, Waimea head coach Enoka Karratti’s squad reached into its back pocket and came out with an ace — a card the Menehune rode for the rest of the match.
The Menehune used seven first-set aces to thwart an early Warrior upset attempt and continued to dominate from the service line in their 25-20, 30-28, 25-23 KIF boys volleyball win Friday night at Waimea High School.
“We’ve been focusing on keeping our serves in during practice,” Enoka said. “They boys did it in the game and it played a big part.”
The Menehune divvied out the aces amongst the whole team, with Keoni Ana recording three, while Kaili Schumacher-Lagundino, Mark Kanahele, Kaimana Gandeza and Chase Parongao added a pair each. Brian Ceballos also added an ace.
Those first-hit points came in handy for the Menehune as the Warriors came out of the gates flying. Kapa‘a jumped out to a 8-1 first set lead before the Menehune rebounded.
The Warriors accrued a healthy lead in the second set as well, with Kapa‘a amassing an 19-13 edge. But the Menehune rallied and went on a 10-4 run to tie the score at 23 apiece. The two teams then traded failed set-point attempts before the Menehune eked out the marathon set at 30-28.
In the third set the Menehune came out strong for the first time in the match with a 7-2 lead. The Warriors countered with the strong play of Kainoa Colipano and Jeremiah Obrero, who thrived under the setting of Joshua Cram, who missed some time last week because of a hurt ankle.
The Warriors pulled close to the Menehune and tied the game at 22-all and were looking to extend the game. But two hard kills by Schumacher-Lagundino put the Warriors in a hole they couldn’t climb out of and the Menehune took the set.
The win improves the Menehune to 2-0 in the second round of the KIF season. The Warriors fell to 1-1.
Over at Island School, the Kaua‘i Red Raiders evened their second-round record at 1-1 with a three-set sweep of the Island School Voyagers, 25-15, 25-11, 25-22.
On the junior varsity level, the Kapa‘a Warriors beat the Menehune in three sets with a 25-21, 25-19, 25-15 win. The score from Island School’s match against Kaua‘i wasn’t reported before The Garden Island went to press.
