Wojnarowicz, Lee win ILH singles titles

By Wes Nakama
Advertiser Staff Writer

As darkness fell upon the Punahou School tennis courts last evening, St. Louis senior Mike Wojnarowicz was faced with two options:

Mariana Lee of Iolani, above, defeated Kristin Wo of Punahou to capture the Interscholastic League of Honolulu girls singles title yesterday at the Punahou School courts. St. Louis' Mike Wojnarowicz, below, beat Iolani's Derrick Lajola for the boys singles championship. Gergory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser

In Wojnarowizc's mind, however, there was only one option.

"They were probably going to make us come back tomorrow (for a third set)," Wojnarowicz said. "I didn't want that."

And so, after a 95-minute struggle, Wojnarowicz finally defeated Lajola 6-4, 7-6 (9-7) to capture the Interscholastic League of Honolulu singles championship.

In the girls singles final, Iolani's Mariana Lee defeated Punahou's Kristen Wo 6-1, 6-1. In the girls doubles title match, Kim and Heidi Kaloi of Kamehameha defeated Allison and Jenna Ishii of Iolani 6-2, 7-5. And in the boys doubles final, Punahou's Chris Iwamura and Matt Nakagawa defeated Kamehameha's Stephen Conching and Cole Millare 6-4, 6-1.

Rain had delayed the start of yesterday's matches by 90 minutes, to 5:30 p.m. By the time Wojnarowicz and Lajola began their tiebreaker set, the sun already had made its way to the horizon.

"I'm tired," Wojnarowicz said afterward.

Each player had pushed the other to the limit. Wojnarowicz won the first two games of the first set, but Lajola took four of the next five games to go up 4-3. Wojnarowicz, with a strong serve and timely drop shots, won the next three games to take the set.

"I wanted to attack, come to the net and play smart," Wojnarowicz said.

Lajola went up 2-0 and 3-1 in the second set, but Wojnarowicz won two service breaks and held twice to take a 5-3 lead. He had Lajola at match point twice in the ninth game, but Lajola fought back to win and then took the next two games to go up 6-5.

Wojnarowicz held to force the tiebreaker, which was tied five times before ending just minutes before darkness.

It was a two-year wait for Wojnarowicz, who sat out last season after transferring from Kaiser. He was seeded third in the ILH tournament, behind Lajola and Punahou's Robbie Lim.

"I lost to Robbie (during the regular season); he played great in that match," Wojnarowicz said. "After that, I figured out what to do."

Against Lajola, Wojnarowicz hit several spectacular crosscourt winners, one after chasing down a lob and swinging from his ankles.

"I was just being aggressive, not so much going for winners but setting up shots," Wojnarowicz said. "I knew if I did that, the winners would come."

Wojnarowicz will play for Loyola Marymount next year.

Lee, a No. 1 seed who will attend Brown next fall, had little trouble in her final against the seventh-seeded Wo.

"My game is to play aggressive; I was trying to come to the net whenever I could," Lee said. "I've been concentrating for a couple of years on being more of a net player."

Lee is unbeaten in high school competition this year.

ILH BASEBALL

• Kamehameha 10, Damien 1: Zach McAngus hit a two-run homer in the first inning and Keoni Ruth hit a three-run homer in the second as the Warriors overpowered the Monarchs at MPI Field in the first round of the Interscholastic League of Honolulu double-elimination tournament.

Damien (1-14) 100 000 0— 1 8 1
Kamehameha (13-2) 430 210 X—10 10 2

Destin Alameida, Chase Masuda (3) and Cheyne Kawamoto. Isaac Kamai, Ikena DuPont (6) and Baba Merino. WP—Kamai. LP—Alameida.

Leading hitters: Damien— Daniel Chamizo 2-4; Kawamoto 2-3, double. Kamehameha—Keoni Ruth homer, 3 RBIs; Kahe Santos double; Zach McAngus homer, 2 RBIs; Andrew Phillip 2-2, 2 runs.

• Mid-Pacific 7, Pac-Five 1: Tyler Inouye pitched five shutout innings and also had two hits and drove in two runs and scored three times, leading the Owls over the Wolfpack at Iolani field.

Troy Hanzawa led the Owls' 10-hit offense with three hits and Kevin Whalen drove in two runs.

Pac-Five (3-12) 000 000 1—1 5 3
Mid-Pacific (11-5) 102 031 X—7 10 0

Tyler Inouye, Paul Nishimura (5) and Colby Holt. Ryan Basco, Patrick McGuigan and Matt Inouye. WP—Basco. LP—Inouye.

Leading hitters: Pac-Five—Jake Mellor double. Mid-Pacific—Troy Hanzawa 3-4; Inouye 2-3, 3 runs, 2 RBIs; Kevin Whalen 2 RBIs; Basco 2-4; Isaac Omura 2-3; Marc Inamasu double.

• Iolani 3, St. Louis 2: Chris Loo pitched a complete game, allowing three hits while striking out six and walking two to lift the Raiders over the Crusaders at Ala Wai Field.

With two outs and the tying run on first, Loo got Crusader Jowen Murray-Thornton to ground out to end the game.

Iolani (9-6) 010 011 0—3 6 1
St. Louis (7-8) 001 100 0—2 3 3

Chris Loo and Kala Kaaihue. Kaimi Mead and Jowen Murray-Thornton. WP—Loo. LP—Mead.

Leading hitters: Iolani—Bobby Webster double. St. Louis—Justin Humalon double.

• Punahou 4, Maryknoll 1: Jared Pate pitched six strong innings, allowing five hits and striking out six, and Landon Nakata came in the seventh to pick up the save as the Buffanblu defeated the Spartans at Ala Wai Field.

Maryknoll (5-10) 100 000 0—1 5 2
Punahou (12-4) 200 011 X—4 7 1

Reily Maeda and Brandon Goshima. Jared Pate, Landon Nakata (7) and Todd LaFountaine. WP—Pate. LP— Maeda. S—Nakata.

Leading hitters: Maryknoll— Sean Ortiz 2-2; Goshima double; David McCoy double.

MIL BASEBALL

• Lahainaluna 8, St. Anthony 3: Lahainaluna scored seven runs in the top of the second inning to eliminate St. Anthony from Maui Interscholastic League playoff contention. Ikaika Neizman pitched a complete game for the victory. Tyler Fujiwara was 3-for-3 for the Lunas.

Lahainaluna (9-4) 070 010 0—8 9 1
St. Anthony (6-7) 300 000 0—3 5 6

Ikaika Neizman and Blaine Bernades. Joey Hegele, Sean Hardesty (2) and Max Young. WP—Neizman. LP—Hardesty.

Leading hitters: Lahainaluna— Bernardes 2-2; Jaiome Alboro 2-3, Tyler Fujiwara 3-3. St. Anthony—Jared-James Pacheco 2-3, Travis Texeira triple.

• Seabury Hall 16, Ka'ahumanu Hou 2: Douglas Neagoy and Kyle Feig each drove in three runs as Seabury Hall routed the Lions at Iron Maehara Stadium in a MIL game called after 4 1/2 innings due to the 10-run rule.

Ka'ahumanu Hou (0-13) 001 10— 2 3 8
Seabury Hall (1-12) 590 2X—16 14 0

Ethan Cravalho and Brandon Tancayo. Kyle Ellison, Joe McFarlin (4), Ellison (5) and Adam Michaud. WP—Ellison. LP—Cravalho.

Leading hitters: Seabury Hall—Michaud 2-4, 2 RBIs; Douglas Neagoy 3-3, 3 RBIs; Scott Murrish 2-3; Kyle Feig 2-2, 3 RBIs; Ellison double, 2 RBIs

ILH BASKETBALL

• Maryknoll 36, Iolani 35: Whitney Wong scored eight points to lead a balanced offense as the Spartans defeated the Raiders in a Interscholastic League of Honolulu Division I game at Iolani.

Michelle Baduria and Cheryl Lee scored seven each, and Diana Samson and Shannon Riley added six each for Maryknoll.

Lana Young scored 14 to lead Iolani.

Maryknoll (8-4) 13 11 3 9—36
Iolani (6-7) 10 4 10 11—35

Maryknoll—Diana Samson 6, Shannon Riley 6, Michelle Baduria 7, Whitney Wong 8, Jessica Ho 0, Stacey Doran 0, Cheryl Lee 7, Sela Fisilau 2, Melanie Tang 0. Totals 12 25-14 36.

Iolani—Jen Nagamine 0, Raeceen Woolford 0, Jackie-lyn Sasaki 3, Lana Young 14, Kiani Wong 6, Keri Oyadomari 4, Patricia Wong 6, Diana McClain 2, Chelsea Wong 0. Totals 16 3-9 35.

3-point goals—Maryknoll 3 (Wong 2, Samson 1).