WAIPAHU — A handful of BIIF tennis players attended the HHSAA State Championships last week, and Waiakea High School’s Kiora Kunimoto placed fourth overall in the girls’ competition.
Kunimoto swept both her first round and round-of-16 matchups, winning 6-0 in every set. In Thursday’s semifinal, she won 6-1 twice against Kaiser HS’ Isabella Pampulov to advance to the semifinal. Kunimoto fell 6-3 and 6-2 in the semifinal to Punahou School’s Elise Wong — then fell again, 6-1 and 6-4 to Moanalua HS’ Ashley Kurizaki in the third-place consolation match.
On the boys’ side, Waiakea’s Iori Furihata made it to the quarterfinal — where he fell to Andre Ajed of Mid Pacific Institute during a tiebreaker. Furihata swept his first-round opponent 6-0, then went up against his teammate — Daniel Nucci — in the semifinal, who he also swept 6-0.
Hawai‘i Prep’s Andrew Moe won straight sets of 6-0 in both his first round and round-of-16 matches, before getting swept by Punahou’s Payton Jim On in the quarterfinal.
In boys doubles, Waiakea’s Paul Brilhante and Dayne Kunimoto also made it to the quarterfinals before taking a loss. The pair swept their first two matches, then were swept 6-2 and 6-1 by Iolani School’s Kawelo Tsuneyoshi and Gervase Ngo.
Jada Igawa and Chloe Takahashi, also from Waiakea, reached the quarterfinals — where they fell 6-0 and 6-2 to Punahou’s Jariahlyn Rhoades and Leyanne Hirota.