In situations that demanded quality tennis, Kealakehe’s girls tennis team was at its best.
In situations that demanded quality tennis, Kealakehe’s girls tennis team was at its best.
The Waveriders won the girls team title Saturday at Holua Tennis Center, sweeping two singles matches and three doubles matches with Konawaena to claim the crown.
Meanwhile, Kealakehe’s boys team, behind two-time defending BIIF singles champion Spencer Travalino and defending doubles champions Chandler Daub and Jeffrey Gelman, repeated their boys team title by beating Hawaii Prep 3-2.
The Kealakehe girls’ final tally of 5-0 against Konawaena certainly didn’t signify domination. Two of the Waveriders’ doubles teams — Cierra Abellera and Tiera Makaiwi, and Michelle Reed and Yoko Nedlic — dropped their first sets before rallying and winning decisive 10-point match tiebreakers.
Earlier in the day, when Kealakehe beat three-time defending girls champion Waiakea 3-2, Waveriders singles player Mai Kobayashi also rallied from a set down, beating the Warriors’ Malorie Murakami 12-10 in another 10-point tiebreaker. Meanwhile, the tandem of Abellera and Makaiwi won a first-set tiebreaker against Waiakea’s Karyl-Lyn Yamakawa and Leisha Ishikawa, while Reed and Nedlic claimed a second-set tiebreaker to beat Jordan Melchor and Marissa Hayashi.
“Everybody closed out their matches really well,” Kealakehe girls coach Chris Makaiwi said.
The Waveriders entered play Saturday as West Hawaii’s No. 2 seed, meaning they’d need to face East Hawaii’s No. 1 seed — a Waiakea team that had accumulated a 7-0 regular-season mark — in the semifinals.
“We knew Waiakea would be a tough team to beat,” Makaiwi said. “It just turned out our girls were able to bring their ‘A’ game. If we brought our ‘B’ game, it wouldn’t have worked.”
The Warriors went into the semifinals having to make last-minute adjustments. Waiakea has one of the island’s best doubles teams in Shayla Kushi and Ishikawa, who went 4-0 in the regular season. But Kushi came down with a stomach flu, forcing coach Bill Brilhante to pair his regular No. 2 singles player, Yamakawa, with Ishikawa.
However, Brilhante said having his team’s regular lineup wouldn’t have changed the outcome of Waiakea’s semifinal matchup with Kealakehe.
“(Kealakehe) is very smart,” Brilhante said. “They didn’t try to do too much, they didn’t try to do too little.
“They’ll hit the high-percentage shots, and they play within themselves.”
Against Konawaena, Abellera and Makaiwi toppled Ashley Teshima and Rayne Izumi-Baltero 6-2, 6-1, 10-8, while Reed and Nedlic stopped Hedwyne Santos and Camille Ricketts 5-7, 6-4, 10-4.
Going into the final, the tandems of Teshima and Izumi-Baltero, and Santos and Ricketts compiled 8-0 records, leading the Wildcats to their first appearance in a BIIF team final since coach Richard Kahalioumi played for Konawaena in 2000.
None of Konawaena’s tennis players compete year-round. However, several maintain a high fitness level by participating in other sports, thus making the Wildcats’ run to the BIIF final no surprise to Kahalioumi.
Teshima, Izumi-Baltero, Santos, Kunitomo and Uemura have all played soccer, while Ricketts has competed for Konawaena’s swim team.
“They’re athletes,” Kahalioumi said. “Anything they put their mind to, they can totally do it.”
The BIIF team championships precede the BIIF individual championship, which will begin Thursday and run through April 21 at Holua Tennis Center.
Singles and doubles players expected to do well next week didn’t disappoint in the team championships.
Waiakea’s Sarah Dvorak, the defending girls singles champion, defeated Kealakehe’s Daisy Green 6-0, 6-1 in the team semifinals. Last year, Dvorak dropped just one game during the entire BIIF season, and she dropped her first of this season while facing Green.
The sophomore, who fell to Mililani’s Alyssa Tobita 7-6 (3), 7-5 in last year’s Hawaii High School Athletic Association state final, said she has tried to come to the net more since last season. She has also guarded against letdowns in the middle of matches.
“I want the second set to be even better than the first,” Dvorak said. “I’m trying to work on keeping the intensity and focus in the second set.”
Dvorak and Green are expected to be the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds, respectively, in the girls singles draw next week.
Makaiwi said Green has improved her fitness and strength over the past season.
“She’s faster, and she hits the ball harder,” Makaiwi said.
Travalino beat HPA’s Zane Moran 6-1, 6-2 and St. Joseph’s Ryosube Take 6-0, 6-0 on Saturday.
Travalino, Waiakea’s Isaiah Brilhante, Hilo’s Daniel Tada and HPA’s J.J. Minakata are expected to be the top four seeds in the boys BIIF singles draw.
Travalino defeated Isaiah Brilhante in the quarterfinals two years ago and in the semifinals last season. The Kealakehe senior also beat Tada in a USTA junior tournament in Janury while getting past Minakata in BIIF play.
Isaiah Brilhante, a junior who defeated HPA’s Bobby Souza 6-2, 6-0 on Saturday, beat Travalino in their most recent USTA junior tennis meeting.
Travalino said he has improved his backhand and his serve over the past year and that he doesn’t feel any pressure entering the individual tournament as the two-time defending champion.
“I know what I can do, and I feel good about my game,” Travalino said. “I’m going to go in there relaxed.”
His teammates, Daub and Gelman, are also on top of their games.
The pair beat St. Joseph’s Christian Borris and Sawyer Rogers 6-0, 6-0 in the team semis. In the final, Daub beat Minakata — an up-and-coming freshman who had lost just once going into play Saturday — 6-3, 7-6, while Gelman teamed up with Kealakehe’s Shoyo Tsukamoto to beat HPA’s Souza and Santa Chirathivat 6-3, 6-3.
Brilhante tabbed Daub and Gelman as heavy favorites in the boys doubles draw.
“I don’t think anybody is on C.J. and Jeff’s level,” Brilhante said. “Realistically, I think it’s a battle for second.”