Waimea survives another long night

Waimea 3, Kapa‘a 2 – WAIMEA — Waimea survived another five-set encounter against Kapa‘a High School yesterday, winning 25-22, 19-25, 21-25, 25-22 and 15-4, at the Clem Gomes Gym.

This is the third time this season that Kapa‘a has taken Waimea to five sets. Waimea now improves to 2-0 for Round 2 and 5-1 overall for the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation season.

Heading into the final set, Waimea setter Jared Matsumoto had posted 35 assists, two digs and was half of four double blocks.

Quinn Gonsalves had 16 kills going in and Keelan Sakuda had 14. For Kapa‘a, Chance Bukoski headed into the final set with 12 kills, while Kila Youn and Kaleo Cummings had 10 each.

Game 1 saw Waimea creep up to a slight lead with kills from Sakuda, Gonsalves and Kevin Chiba. Waimea hit the five-point lead mark with a kill by Gonsalves, but a solo block by Youn on Chiba saw possession shift to the Warriors.

They would rally to get within one with a kill by Chance Bukoski. Kapa‘a shared its setting duties between three players — Devin Saiki, Kevin Villanueva and Korey Pang — to find the right rhythm between the team.

Villanueva, though, switched jerseys to play at libero for the rest of the match.

Game 2 saw Kapa‘a jump out with the lead. It was Waimea’s turn to play catch-up, but a rally didn’t come. Kapa‘a’s biggest lead of the night went to seven points and Waimea got as close within two.

Waimea fell behind again in Game 3, but rookie David Kaohelaulii was pulled off the bench and was immediately effective, tying the game with a kill. He finished the set with four kills.

A great rally came for Waimea in Game 4, when Gonsalves tied the game at 9-9 with a kill. The Menehune then gained the lead with a kill from Sakuda. Gonsalves then served for seven straight points to bring them to 14-9. Kapa‘a forced Waimea into several hitting errors for a brief rally, but Waimea forced the Game 5.

Heading into the final set, Saiki had 20 assists and Pang had 7.