Kadena's volleyball players and managers celebrate the team's first victory over Kubasaki in more than 10 years. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa – Not a single player or coach currently in Kadena’s volleyball program had ever been associated with a match victory over Kubasaki.
Until Tuesday.
Sisters Haide and Aylin Alvarez, transfers from Texas, combined for 22 kills and setter Christine Kehe had 24 assists as the Panthers snapped a 10-season losing streak to the Dragons 31-29, 21-25, 20-25, 25-21, 15-13 at the Dragons Den.
It was Kadena’s first win over Kubasaki in an Okinawa Athletics & Activities Council regular-season match since Sept. 3, 2013, when the Panthers downed the Dragons in five sets.
While the Panthers players celebrated the rare victory on the Dragons’ home court, second-year Kadena coach Ashley Moreno was subdued in the moments after the match.
“It’s just the beginning of them building up to be a bigger, better team,” Moreno said.
Given the history between the two teams, Tuesday’s victory was an upset on a grand scale.
Kubasaki has four Far East Division I Tournament titles to its credit; the closest Kadena has come was in 2003, when it reached the Final Four and took the third-place match over American School In Japan.
The Dragons have gone 20-0 in each of the last two seasons, beating the Panthers a total of 20 times in that span. But the only team to take a set off Kubasaki the last two years was Kadena, one in separate matches last season.
Sophomore Yuri Biggins had 13 kills and five aces to keep the Dragons in the match against Kadena. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
Sisters Haide Alvarez and Aylin Alvarez, right, transfers from Texas, combined for 22 kills in Kadena's five-set victory Tuesday over Kubasaki, the Panthers' first over the Dragons in 10 years. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
On Tuesday, the Panthers were denied set point seven times in the first set before finally prevailing.
Kubasaki, led by sophomore Yuri Biggins’ 13 kills and five aces, clawed back to take the next two sets and appeared in command.
But in the fourth set, the Panthers changed the script, going up 8-1, then fighting off a Dragons rally – and a pair of delays caused by false fire alarms – to level the match at two sets each.
In the fifth set, Kadena again seized an early lead, then fought off a Dragons late push, getting the winning point on a Haide Alvarez kill from the left side.
Moreno says she hopes Tuesday’s success will continue. “They’re all … coming together to get the win at the end of the day,” she said.
The teams meet again three more times during the regular season, their second showdown next Tuesday at the Panther Pit.
