KEAUHOU — There were very few surprises heading into the final day of the BIIF individual tennis championships at the Holua Tennis Center on Saturday as the Nos. 1 and 2 seeds in each bracket faced off for a league title.
Playing on the main court, Konawaena’s Tayvia Yamagata, seeded No. 1, added another achievement in her BIIF career with a singles title in a dominating 6-0, 6-1 straight set victory over Waiakea’s Keilyn Kunimoto.
In a singles upset, Hawaii Prep’s Ryo Minakata, the No. 2 boys seed, defeated reigning Hilo champion and No. 1 seed Gil Assi 6-2, 6-1.
A pair of Kealakehe teams swept the doubles title.
The No. 2 seeded duo of April Wong and Michelle Uyeda defeated the Waiakea freshman pairing of Maile Brilhante and Kianna Oda 6-1, 6-3.
For the boys, Brett Guccione and Cameron Ventura defeated Hilo’s Li Aki and Luke Hamano 6-4, 6-2.
Yamagata on top again
Yamagata continued her domination of the BIIF scene, collecting a singles title one year after winning the doubles championship with former teammate Rashai Kailiwai. The team of Yamagata and Kailiwai reached the championship match of the HHSAA tournament before settling for second place.
To claim both a singles and doubles title in a high school career is no small feat.
“It was a tough match and Keilyn put up a real good fight, but I was happy with the way I played,” Yamagata said. “To win a singles title after a doubles title means a lot to me. It is also good for colleges to see and I am happy about that.”
With the win, Yamagata managed to pick up the first singles title for Konawaena in 17 years. The last winners were way back in 2000 when the Wildcats swept both the boys and the girls’ championships. One of those winners was Richard Kahalioumi, who is currently the head coach of the Konawaena program.
“It feels good to see her win but I can’t boast or brag about it because it is not my credit to take. The credit all goes to the kids,” Kahalioumi said. “I knew the win wasn’t going to be easy, but Tayvia performed well after growing more mentally tough this season.”
Minakata following brother’s path
Minakata’s upset of Assi in the boys’ championship match might have seemed to come out of nowhere, which it sort of did. But it was not surprising to Hawaii Prep coach Jeff Lewis, who coached the sophomore’s brother JJ Minakata, a two-time BIIF champion, who won the title in 2014 and 2015 before going on to play college tennis at Eastern Washington.
Ryo Minakata, who is from Japan but spent a couple of years in New Zealand, arrived on the Big Island in January where he jumped right into the tennis scene at HPA. Before coming to Hawaii, Minakata was facing some tough competition — competition that Big Islander’s rarely see on an every day basis.
“He played a very high level of tennis for a long time,” Lewis said. “Ryo has had a look at better players than himself. I think that is what really helped him today.”
While the score looked lopsided in the match between Assi and Minakata, each set was filled with long rallies as both players exchanged shots from the baseline, usually with Minakata winning at the end. Minakata was very vocal on the court, reacting physically and vocally when he did or did not make a good shot.
“It comes naturally and it helps me keep going and stay motivated,” Minakata said. “I am very happy with the win and I think my family is probably happy too.”
Kealakehe girls lob to victory
Seniors Wong and Uyeda claimed the doubles title on Saturday by exploiting the lob shot against a pair of Waiakea freshman not familiar playing against the strategy. In fact, very few high school players use the tactic in practice, and it is almost never used in matches, according to Kealakehe coach Lawrence Lowe.
“Kids don’t like to lob,” Lowe said. “They don’t believe in it and I have to force them to do it in practice by telling them they can use it or they can run around the soccer field.
“Now they tell me it is their shot, but I say no, no, no,” Lowe laughed. “Now the kids listen and I am happy they won.”
For Wong, the win was long overdue after coming so close to a title in previous years.
“I was so relieved to finally win after coming in second in the past years,” Wong said. “It took me a while to realize what happened at first, but then it all started flooding in at once and it was so overwhelming.”
Like Yamagata about a half hour earlier, Uyeda managed to add a doubles title to her singles championship, which she claimed her freshman year.
“I think we played well and we work well together, with April being a really good baseline player and I am pretty good at the net,” Uyeda said. “The win was tough because they are our friends and it is always hard playing your friends, but it just worked out for us.”
Lowe believes that Wong and Uyeda, who teamed up for the tournament after playing mostly in singles action, have a good chance of going deep into the state tournament.
“The girls can win at states,” Lowe said. “In my opinion they are a top-two team and I believe they are favored to win it. That is how good they are.”
Waverider boys complete doubles sweep
In the closest contest of the afternoon, Guccione and Ventura defeated Hilo’s Aki and Hamano to give Kealakehe the doubles sweep at the league tournament. Guccione and Ventura also used the lob to their advantage, but the service game is where they stood out.
“They served stronger and I thought their volleying was stronger as well,” Lowe said. “That pretty much dictated the match.”
The Hilo duo was a bit of an unknown challenge for Kealakehe. Ventura, a captain on the team, knew the win would not come easy and also credited his team’s service game for the victory.
“We never played them this season and the unknown is always the scariest,” Ventura said. “They were tough and pulled out some amazing shots. Holding serve was very important in the win and we somehow pulled it out.”
Guccione and Ventura seemed to only get stronger as their match went on, something that was indicated in the score as they dropped only two games in the final set.
“It was an exciting and long match and I am really happy with the outcome,” Guccione said. “We just wanted it more than they did.”
Seeding for the HHSAA tournament will take place on April 27 and the tournament will run from May 4-6 on Maui.
