After a bronze medal showing by Kaua‘i’s Garrett Sakimae and Kaleo Baxter for the Asics Rainbow Volleyball Club, fellow local boys, Va‘afuti Tavana, Kevin Downing, and Justin McSheehy of the 17-and-under division fed off of the momentum of their counterparts
After a bronze medal showing by Kaua‘i’s Garrett Sakimae and Kaleo Baxter for the Asics Rainbow Volleyball Club, fellow local boys, Va‘afuti Tavana, Kevin Downing, and Justin McSheehy of the 17-and-under division fed off of the momentum of their counterparts to remain in first-place in the gold bracket after the first three days of competition of the 2004 U.S.A. Junior Olympics Boys Volleyball Championships.
On July 4 in Austin, Texas, the squad beat SCVZ of Redondo, California (25-22, 25-18), but fell to Diablo of Concord, California (25-20, 23-25, 13-15). Then they got back into the win column with a victory over Addison Volleyball Club from Plano, Texas (26-24, 25-17). After the first day of play, the team held the first-place slot.
The second day for the 17-and-under trio from Kaua‘i was just as successful as the opening round, as they eliminated Bears of Soquel, California (25-16, 25-13). The Riptides from Redondo, California gave the team all they could handle in three sets, but they prevailed in the third day (22-25, 25-19, 15-13).
Epic of Poway, California came rolling in upset-minded, but yet again the boys came away with the win (25-21, 25-18), good enough for the top spot in the gold bracket after day three. Team mom, Becky Sakimae noted that the boys are doing well and are excited about their chances of bringing home the gold medal. Also, Sakimae and the team found a familiar face at the tournament, former Kaua‘i High School volleyball standout, Heather Roberts (daughter of Red Raider girls volleyball head coach Rich Roberts), who works for U.S.A. Volleyball by doing announcing, registration, and other duties. Yesterday, the Asics Rainbow Volleyball 17-and-under team took care of Yorktown of Winsor, Pennsylvania (22-25, 25-19, 15-10). The championship round happens today and the boys could play as many as three matches in the single elimination round. In the meantime, the club got a glimpse of the U.S.A. Olympic men’s volleyball team, who defeated Russia in three games. Former UH standout Clay Stanley is one of the members of the U.S.A. squad.
