KAPAA – Kauai High School’s boys volleyball team ended Kapaa’s win streak at seven in a closely contested matchup on the road Friday night. Kauai (5-2, 2-0 in second round) won 3-2 by scores of 25-21, 15-25, 27-25, 17-25, 20-18.
KAPAA – Kauai High School’s boys volleyball team ended Kapaa’s win streak at seven in a closely contested matchup on the road Friday night.
Kauai (5-2, 2-0 in second round) won 3-2 by scores of 25-21, 15-25, 27-25, 17-25, 20-18.
“It’s a good feeling to be 2-0 and not 1-1,” said Red Raiders head coach Merrill Carvalho. “I told the boys that I didn’t want to hear anymore talking. That if you want to win, you need to show me by example … They found their groove.
“Whoever missed out tonight missed one heck of a game,” he added.
During an extended fifth set in which scoring went back and forth down the stretch, junior Kealii Colipano got the final kill that gave Kauai the victory.
“Best feeling in the world … just super stoked,” Colipano said about getting the last point for his team.
Carvalho said the biggest difference was the team’s blocking.
Kekoa Tecson, who was brought up from junior varsity, made an immediate impact with blocking for Kauai.
“Right now, he’s the spark plug that we have,” Carvalho said about Tecson. “With these adjustments that we’re making, the team is starting to gel.
“Our blocking was unbelievable tonight. That was the best blocking show I’ve seen on both sides,” the Kauai coach added.
Kapaa head coach Kapule Kaona also said the biggest difference between this game and the first two meetings was Kauai’s blocking.
“I know they brought up that kid from JV, and he’s a leaper,” the Warriors coach said. “I think they brought him up for defensive purposes. That was a good move on their end.
“We didn’t play our best game … That’s tough, but that’s the game,” Kaona added.
Kapaa senior middle Nicholas Hantz said losing for the first time this season was difficult but hopes the team takes it as a learning experience moving forward.
“We had a lot of errors. That kind of killed us. We shot ourselves in the foot. It was our own mistakes that gave them that advantage,” he said. “We were overly confident coming into the game and we didn’t play to our potential.
“Now we kind of got this unsettled feeling in our hearts. We got this fire burning in us again. So, we’re going to come and hit it even harder than they’ll ever expect,” Hantz added.
Both Kauai and Kapaa (7-1, 1-1 in second round) will play host on Tuesday. Kauai will play Waimea and Kapaa will play Island School.
Junior varsity games will start at 5 p.m. and varsity games will start no earlier than 6:30 p.m.
