Ex-Iolani tennis ace spurs UNLV
By Dennis Anderson
Advertiser Staff Writer
Simply put, "Tracie Chong is ripping it up here in Vegas," UNLV tennis spokesman Mark Wallington said Monday.
Freshman Chong of Hawai'i Kai, last year's state high school girls singles champion at Iolani and Hawai'i's No. 1-ranked girls' 18 player, "has been a significant factor in us making such a big jump in the rankings," UNLV coach Kevin Cory said yesterday.
UNLV is No. 15 in NCAA Division I in the Omni Hotels Collegiate Tennis Rankings after starting the season at No. 60. "It's the first time we've been in the top 20 in years," Cory said.
Chong has a 22-6 record in singles playing at the No. 4 position. She has won nine straight and 16 of her last 18 matches.
Despite nearly two dozen victories, Chong is most proud of a defeat. "I lost 6-4 in the third set to a top-10 player, Erin Burdette of Stanford," she said. "That was my best match."
Chong said it was hard to get used to the college tennis environment. "It's totally different from juniors and high school," she said, "but I worked hard and this spring has been a lot better."
Coach Cory likes Chong's "very aggressive style of play. She takes a ball very early and is always on the offensive ... she's very difficult to beat."
Cory said Chong is "one of three freshmen shaping the future of our program. We've reached a level where we had never been. It's incredible to be in top 20." UNLV is 15-3.
Cory also said Chong "will be close to a 4.0 (grade-point average) every semester. She is very disciplined." Chong is a computer engineering major.
MEN'S TENNIS
• St. Louis (Mo.)
Last year's state boys singles champion is already succeeding in college, too. Punahou graduate Ikaika Jobe of Wailupe Circle has a 9-2 record at No. 1 singles and also plays No. 1 doubles.
INJURIES
• Azusa Pacific (Calif.) track & field
Decathlon champion Bryan Clay (Castle '98) will undergo arthroscopic surgery Monday in California to try to find the source of persistent pain and swelling in his left knee. MRIs have come up blank, Azusa Pacific University spokesman Gary Pine said.
Clay will miss this month's Mt. SAC Relays in California, where he posted the best score in the world at that time last season. But Azusa Pacific coach Kevin Reid said he thinks Clay will be back at full strength for his final NAIA championship meet in May.
With the knee bothering him, Clay ended last year as America's fourth-ranking decathlete. He won the NAIA indoor pentathlon championship last month and made a career-best 24 feet, 11¥ inches in the long jump despite constant pain.
The pain is in his left knee, which is not his takeoff knee for jumps, Pine said.
• Pacific (Ore.) softball
Freshman pitcher Christina Young (Kamehameha '01) of Kailua, sustained a fracture to the left orbital region of her face when she was hit by a line drive in a game against Pacific Lutheran Saturday.
Young is Pacific's leading hitter with a .417 average and has started 20 games as pitcher or designated player.
SOCCER
• Azusa Pacific (Calif.)
NAIA Player of the Year Andrea Alfiler (Kapa'a '97) was waived Sunday by the Philadelphia Charge in its final cut from 22 to 18 players for the season starting April 13. Alfiler goes into the Women's United Soccer Association waiver draft.
Alfiler was the first player from Hawai'i to be drafted by the two-year-old WUSA.
SOFTBALL
• St. Andrews Presbyterian (N.C.)
Four of the five leading hitters and three-fourths of the infield are from Hawai'i. Junior third baseman Stacy Makahilahila (Kamehameha '98) is the top batter at .400 (26-for-65), sophomore pitcher Tina Gonsalves (Sacred Hearts '00) is next at .337 (34-for-101), sophomore second baseman Kimberly Makahilahila (Kamehameha '00) is third at .311 (23-for-74) and freshman shortstop Mari Finn (Lahainaluna '01) is fifth at .302 (29-for-96).
Gonsalves is also St. Andrews' No. 1 pitcher and its best power hitter and RBI leader (11 doubles, 2 homers in the same game, 16 RBIs). She has a 3.27 earned run average and 7-13 record in 124 innings.
Stacy Makahilahila has the best on-base average (.512) and Gonsalves the best slugging average (.505).
Kimberly Makahilahila, Gonsalves and Stacy Makahilahila also rank 1-2-3 in fielding percentage, led by Kimberly's .961 and five errors in 32 games.
The Makahilahila sisters and Gonsalves are from Kailua. Finn is from Lahaina. The Makahilahila sisters were first-team all-state players in high school; Gonsalves and Finn received honorable mention all-state.
After a 1-10 start, St. Andrews has won six of its last 10 and is 12-22 overall.
BASEBALL
• North Idaho (JC)
Chad Bailey, a first-team all-state pitcher for Campbell last season, has a 1-4 record and 7.11 earned run average as the team's third starter. Jay Baptista (Leilehua '01) is a starting catcher; he's batting .190 but has been outstanding defensively with one error in 148 chances (.993). North Idaho, scenically located on the shore of Lake Couer d'Alene, is 19-10.
SCHOLARSHIP
• Northern Colorado
Burt Iwata (Leilehua '97), student-assistant volleyball coach, is among 10 finalists for one of four Sears Directors' Cup $5,000 postgraduate awards to NCAA Division II schools. Iwata, who played volleyball and baseball at Leilehua, has a 4.0 grade-point average and will graduate in May with a triple major in finance, management and economics.
