WAIMEA — Windy Waimea could not hold back the Menehune Saturday at the Waimea High School tennis courts. “The weather was gorgeous on the Westside,” said Adrian Alvarez, the Waimea coach. “It was very windy, but both teams battled very
WAIMEA — Windy Waimea could not hold back the Menehune Saturday at the Waimea High School tennis courts.
“The weather was gorgeous on the Westside,” said Adrian Alvarez, the Waimea coach. “It was very windy, but both teams battled very hard from the start to the finish.”
Waimea boys took their series, 3-2 over Kauai High School, and the Menehune wahine finished equally strong, taking a 3-2 series over the Red Raider ladies.
“The boys left it all out on the court,” Alvarez said. “I could not have been more pleased with the way they all played — both Kauai and Waimea boys.”
Marcus Pereira, after coasting to a win last week, battled Mitchell Evans in a “blow-for-blow, back-and-forth match,” before taking the Boys First Singles 7-6 (9-7), 6-4.
On the Second Singles court, Waimea’s Joshua Subiate emerged from the back-and-forth battle, 6-4, 6-2 over Kauai’s Akira Takabayashi.
Waimea iced its boys’ win on the Second Doubles court when Patrick Cowell paired with Riley Saiki to down Kauai’s duo of Cayson Lalin and Josh Matsuyama, 6-0, 6-3.
Kauai’s victories came on the Boys First Doubles court when Holden Hallaway, pairing with Trevor Carbonell, survived a see-saw battle against Waimea’s Limar Medina and Edmelle Medina, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.
The Red Raiders’ Chris Constantino and Anthony Apalla clawed out of another back-and-forth battle against Waimea’s Keegan Donaher and Robbie Jiao, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 on the Boys Third Doubles court.
Kauai girls took both ends of the singles matches, but could not come up with wins on the doubles courts.
Mie Miller came back from her injury to defeat Micah Guillermo, 6-4, 6-3 on the Girls First Singles court, and Kauai’s Manna Graziano proved stronger than Ashley Pascual, 6-1, 7-5 on the competitive Girls Second Singles court.
Alvarez said the best match of the day took place on the Girls First Doubles court when Kari Correa teamed with Karla Bermudez for a “scrappy” match against Kauai’s Kaylin Kukino and Hoku Iseri with the Menehune duo prevailing 7-6 (7-3), 4-6, 6-4.
Waimea’s Khryshia Pascual and Kylah Gruspe “fought tooth-and-nail” to the end against Kauai’s Mari Kanna and Helena Huffman on the Girls Second Doubles court. The Pascual and Gruspe team emerged victorious, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7-5).
More excitement blanked the Girls Third Doubles court when Waimea’s Rochelle Dela Cruz and Julia Hirano prevailed over Kauai’s Brooke Kanna and Rina Takabayashi, 6-4, 6-3.
Waimea next travels to the Hanalei Bay Resort tennis courts on Saturday to take on the Kapaa Warriors while Kauai moves to the Kauai Community College tennis courts to face Island School. The Hanalei matches start at 10 a.m. and the first serve at the Kauai Community College courts go off at 1 p.m.
