LIHUE — Waimea High School’s varsity boys volleyball team defeated Kauai High in straight sets Friday evening. Waimea (6-2 KIF, 2-0 2nd round) won at the Red Raiders’ home gym — 25-19, 28-17 and 25-18. “I’m pretty happy with the
LIHUE — Waimea High School’s varsity boys volleyball team defeated Kauai High in straight sets Friday evening.
Waimea (6-2 KIF, 2-0 2nd round) won at the Red Raiders’ home gym — 25-19, 28-17 and 25-18.
“I’m pretty happy with the way we came out to play. This season, we changed to focusing on ourselves and not worrying about anyone else,” said Waimea head coach Alton Shimatsu. “The boys did good picking themselves up. We’re just trying to grow as a team and become more independent so we can push through tough situations.”
The Menehune had a 23-10 lead in the second set. The Red Raiders then went on a 7-1 run, capped off with blocks from both junior outside hitter Tyron Libarios-Moses and junior middle blocker Tajh Mapuhi, to cut the deficit to 24-17.
Waimea would end the set with a kill by junior outside hitter Carl Mecham. Senior setter Briggs Agu had the assist on the set-winning play.
“That’s the kind of stuff we noticed from the game. We like see good stuff happen on our side, but we focus more on the things we need work on,” Shimatsu said of Kauai High’s run toward the end of that set. “When we go to play Kapaa, we cannot let that happen. We just got to focus and buckle down on every chance we get.”
Mecham had 12 kills, 11 assists, three aces and a block for Waimea. Agu had 19 assists, four kills, an ace and a block. Junior outside hitter Kaleo Castaneda had seven kills and two digs. Sophomore setter Regis Lomongo had two kills, two aces and a dig.
Libarios-Moses had 10 kills, seven assists, three digs and a block for Kauai High. Mapuhi had three blocks and two kills. Junior setter Jhay Karl Miguel had 11 assists and three digs. Senior outside hitter Damien Butac had six kills, four digs and three assists.
Red Raiders head coach Enoch Aana was not available for comment following Friday’s match.
Waimea will host Kapaa and Kauai High (2-6 KIF, 0-2 2nd round) host Island School on Tuesday. Junior varsity matches will begin at 5 p.m. and the varsity will follow.
“We just got to outplay Kapaa. That’s the only thing,” Shimatsu said of Tuesday’s match. “It’s a matter of who makes the first mistake, because both teams always fight. It’s whoever get the kill or makes the first mistake. We got to focus on ourselves and cut back on our own errors.”
