Punahou sweeps state team championships

By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer

WAIPAHU — Ultimately all but the boys doubles went according to form at the Hawai'i High School Athletic Association/Carlsmith Ball State Tennis Championships yesterday at Central O'ahu Regional Park. All the top seeds won but one and Punahou swept both team titles, despite losing six girls and six boys from last year.

"They don't want to be the ones to screw it up," said coach Rusty Komori, whose team again clinched before the final day.

The Punahou girls got points from every player entered. They needed it all to hold off Kamehameha, 16 to 15, for their third consecutive title and 31st overall.

For the second straight year, St. Francis junior Kalei Gora helped Punahou squeeze by. She defended her singles title with a 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 victory over Kamehameha senior Heidi Kaloi, the 2003 state champ headed for UC-Irvine.

Sheena David, one of six more Punahou seniors, also played a critical part by grinding out a 7-5, 6-7 (5), 7-5 victory to capture third place and two points.

It helped neutralize a doubles win by Kamehameha's Brooke Doane and Lauren Shin, who beat Moanalua sisters Julienne and Joelle Yamamoto. Doane and Shin lost in last year's final.

Punahou took both boys titles, with its seventh-seeded doubles team of Andrew Mau and Will Grosswendt preventing a top-seed sweep. Seniors Mau and Grosswendt upset their top-seeded teammates, Jon Wong and Eric Shono, in the quarterfinals.

Junior Mikey Lim brought the singles championship back home with a 7-6 (3), 6-2 victory over Word of Life's Daniel Llarenas. Lim's brother Robbie won the 2002 and 2003 titles before losing in last year's final.

"There's a lot of pressure on me to uphold the legacy," Lim said. "There's the Lim dynasty, because my brother won two states before me. But even bigger than that is Punahou's dynasty."

Llarenas, the eighth seed who upset two players, ripped and rocked with Lim to 6-all in an entertaining first set. Llarenas was up in the tiebreak, 3-1, but didn't get another point. Lim altered his serve and relentlessly kept the ball in play to let his opponent — who never met a net he didn't want to rush — make the mistakes.

"His serve is huge," Lim said, "but his volleys are even better. No matter what kind of shot you hit, he's just going to stick a volley right in the corner. He goes all out. That's why it's so tough playing him. ... As of late, he's been playing ridiculously good."

Gora's match with Kaloi was ridiculously similar to last year's state final, from their rocket ground strokes, to the disdain for the middle of the court and Kaloi's cramping in the end.

Kaloi went up 3-1 in the third set but Gora sensed she was slowing down. "I knew she was already hurting," Gora said, "because she didn't go for the shots."

Gora tied it at 3-all. With Kaloi serving at 40-30, she tripped and called a medical timeout. A trainer treated her for cramps. The match was officially over soon after. Gora, hydrated and unaffected by the hot sun, had her nerves and Kaloi under control.

The format was changed this year, with the semifinals moving from Saturday morning to Friday afternoon. Last year, both singles matches ended with players retiring from cramps.

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8043.