PO‘IPU — The underclassmen ruled the courts for the singles and Waimea’s girls double teams dominated yesterday on the first day of the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation’s state championship qualifiers at the Kiahuna Swim and Tennis Club. Freshmen Chas Okamoto (Kapa‘a
PO‘IPU — The underclassmen ruled the courts for the singles and Waimea’s girls double teams dominated yesterday on the first day of the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation’s state championship qualifiers at the Kiahuna Swim and Tennis Club.
Freshmen Chas Okamoto (Kapa‘a High School), Sam Dunham (Island School) and Sarah Kukino (Kaua‘i High School) successfully defeated their older opponents yesterday and will take the court today for the finals.
“I was actually kind of nervous,” Okamoto said.
In his first year of prep tennis, Okamoto received the No. 1 ranking going into the tournament.
“I was kind of nervous because I was seeded and I was playing guys who are older than me, but it was kind of the same because at state tournaments (for the U.S. junior tennis leagues), I’m usually seeded anyway,” he said.
Okamoto breezed through his early morning match against Kaua‘i’s Manny Cagdan, winning in two sets, 6-1 and 6-0. Then later in the afternoon, Okamoto faced another Kaua‘i opponent, Sterling Inouye. Okamoto had already defeated Inouye once during the regular season at their first meeting in March with Okamoto shutting him out in straight sets.
That didn’t start off that way yesterday. Okamoto had a slightly sluggish start, double-faulting, hitting another play into the net and another out of bounds. He recovered quickly to win that first game and went on to win the match, 6-1, 6-1.
He now will play fellow freshman Dunham.
“I think it’s kind of cool,” Okamoto said about the two top players in the league being freshmen.
“That means we’ll have good competition for the next couple of years,” he said.
Dunham won his early match against Domingo Loero, 6-0, 6-0, then went on to beat fourth-ranked senior of Kapa‘a, Adam Kerlin. That match went 6-2, 6-2.
On the girls side, top-ranked Lyndsey Tom of Kapa‘a will not be defending her KIF title this year. The junior who won the title for the past two years in a row, hurt her left ankle early yesterday, but still played and won her morning match.
“I think it’s sprained,” as she rested it atop a cooler.
Tom defeated Island School’s Sheena Iwamoto 6-1, 6-2, despite the bad ankle.
“She was able to get in enough good shots in,” said Island School head coach Ernie Blachowiak. “A lesser player would’ve have been done.”
With the win, Tom advanced to the semis and earned an automatic bid to the state tournament, and therefore defaulted her quarterfinal match that she would have played against Kaua‘i’s Cassady Sirois.
Sirois will play her teammate Kukino for the championship.
The freshman and second-ranked Kukino won her spot in the finals by winning her early match against Island School’s Jessica Duarte, 6-1, 6-0, then beating another teammate, Dasha Lagmay.
Waimea’s girls doubles teams enjoyed their victories yesterday, winning all of their quarterfinal matches. A week after capturing their first KIF team championship in 16 years, they will later crown two of them KIF tournament, doubles champs. The girls are former singles player Tiffany Lum, Jade Cano, Ceci Sun, Beverly Grande, Miyu Adachi, Dessa Rentrop, LeeAnn Sagucio and Candice Klein.
For the boys doubles, Kapa‘a’s Kila Youn and Ador Lopez will play Waimea’s Jordan Sato and Michael Haack for the title.
Youn and Lopez advanced by rallying to beat Waimea’s Harold Shimono Jr. and Darrel Nonaka in three sets, 6-2, 1-6, 6-4. The boys split their first two sets, and it was nearly over for Youn and Lopez in the third when they were down 4-2. They came back to win four straight games to come up with the win.
