LIHUE — Kauai High School girls’ volleyball won its first match of the Kauai Interscholastic Federation season. Waimea High School was two points shy of forcing an extra set against Kapaa on Tuesday during the KIF girls volleyball games played at the Kauai High School gymnasium and the Clem Gomes Gym in Waimea.
Earlier in the evening, the Island School Junior Varsity and the Menehune JV were straight-set winners. Waimea JV took their matches over the Kapaa JV, 26-24, 25-10, and 15-13.
Over at the Kauai High School facility, Island School JV posted wins of 25-13, 25-13, and had to dig deep for the 15-12 final.
On the varsity floor, Kapaa Warriors, the defending KIF girls volleyball champion and currently undefeated, picked up its third league victory on sets that ended 25-17 and 25-23. After dropping the second set by two points, Waimea capitalized on its momentum and beat Kapaa, 29-27 in the third set.
The Kauai High School girls celebrated their first win in four sets, 25-21, 21-25, 25-12, and 25-15.
Over at the Kauai High School facility, Red Raider Coach Shyanne Sadora watched her Raider ladies work through warm-ups while stroking her pregnant belly.
“They’re almost ready,” she said following defeats on the team’s first two forays on the hardwood.
That “almost” came in the following four sets against Island School when the Red Raiders’ Zariah Fernandez and Kamryn Yates realized they could hit the ball and get back up from middle Emiluy Wyszocroozxi. Leila Caoagas made an appearance on the hardwood and spiced the night with a few well-placed hits along with Red Raider senior Navaeh Smith.
In the first set, Island School chased to a 6-8 deficit before hits from Kaia Haugh, Naia Char, and Grace McAnarny put the Voyagers to a 10-8 edge.
The Raiders answered, and a Caoagas hit gave the Raiders a 15-13 edge until Voyager Madelyn Halladay served up an ace for the 18-15 go-ahead.
Kauai broke away from a 20-20 tie behind a pair of hitting errors from Island School, and limited the Voyagers to just a point off McAnarny before Fernandez whacked a pair to seal the deal, 25-21.
Island School came back to take the second set, 25-21, before Kauai wrapped up the third and fourth sets, 25-12 and 25-15.
Thursday night is the big contest for this week when all four KIF member schools get to play before the OC16 cameras in games that will be broadcast live over the OC16 airwaves from the new Kauai High School gymnasium.
At 5 p.m., the first service between Island School and the Kapaa Warriors goes off. Following that encounter, Kauai High School will host Waimea in the nightcap.
The JV games are scheduled to be played on Saturday, starting at 10 a.m.
Source: The Garden Island