KEALAKEKUA — The Konawaena boys tennis team outlasted Hilo, and the rain Wednesday afternoon on the way to a 3-1 victory to advance to the semifinals of the BIIF team playoffs.
KEALAKEKUA — The Konawaena boys tennis team outlasted Hilo, and the rain Wednesday afternoon on the way to a 3-1 victory to advance to the semifinals of the BIIF team playoffs.
“It was a good match on both ends, and the Hilo singles players and doubles players were both tough,” Konawaena coach Richard Kahalioumi said. “Our boys put in the work and picked up a good win.”
The Wildcats jumped out to a 2-0 advantage over the Vikings with wins in the No. 2 singles match and No. 1 doubles match. Pancho Shelton cruised to a 6-0, 6-0 win over Hilo’s Kenji Emerson. The Konawaena duo of Brant Yamamoto and Tresen Arakaki did nearly the same to the team of Zach Kamiyama and Noah Hong with a 6-0, 6-1 victory.
“Pancho played well and did not let a point go by. He stayed aggressive and was able to finish the match quickly,” Kahalioumi said. “Tresen and Brant worked hard in their match, stayed on point, and did not let any mistakes bother them.”
Yamamoto was able to play through the match despite battling an illness.
Hilo cut into the deficit when No. 1 singles player Gil Assi defeated Konawaena’s Anakele Apisaloma 6-2, 6-2. However, the Wildcats clinched the match shortly before the rain came when the No. 2 singles team of Kory Urada and Ryan Ogi defeated Li Aki and Andrew Caxe 6-3, 6-4.
“That was a pretty close match and Li Aki is a pretty good tennis player on the Hilo side,” Kahalioumi said. “My boys were able to isolate him and focus more on his partner, and they took over the net play.”
The third doubles match between the Wildcats’ Jayse Takimoto and Derek Ogi, and Hilo’s Stein Lim and Brad Nakamara was deadlocked at one set apiece and was just entering the third set tiebreaker when a downpour began. With the Konawaena victory already in hand, and a long drive to the east side in the near future for the visiting team, both coaches elected not to finish the No. 3 seeded match. Konawaena took the first set 6-4 before dropping the second set 4-6.
The match ended the team portion of the season for a very young Hilo team.
“We have competed against some of the top teams in the west, we have lost to all of the top teams in the west, but we have a very bright future,” Hilo coach Jared Yamanaka said. “We have four young freshman in the top eight right now with Gil being the top one. He is a pretty amazing kid.”
Aki is also a freshman, along with Kamiyama and Nakamara.
“The kids know how to play and helped out a team of juniors and seniors that were shorthanded last season,” Yamanaka said. “I am really proud of my kids. They play hard, they fight, and I am really happy with what they are doing.”