LIHU‘E — So far, the seeds have all held to form in the girls bracket, which means Kaua‘i High School’s Sarah Kukino has played her way into the championship match of the Carlsmith Ball/HHSAA State Tennis Championships. Kukino, who earned
LIHU‘E — So far, the seeds have all held to form in the girls bracket, which means Kaua‘i High School’s Sarah Kukino has played her way into the championship match of the Carlsmith Ball/HHSAA State Tennis Championships.
Kukino, who earned the No. 2 seed after a dominant regular season and a Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation singles title, won both her quarterfinal and semifinal matches in straight sets, Friday, moving her into the finals against the state’s top seed, Sayo Tsukumoto of Kealakehe High School.
In her first match of the day, Kukino took out Mid-Pacific’s Gabrielle Gorence by a 6-0, 6-3 score.
She then had to go up against her toughest opponent to date, third-seeded Kelsey Daguio of Sacred Hearts. Though the sets were Kukino’s closest of the week to this point, she still got the job done in a 6-3, 6-4 win, earning the right to play for a state title.
Prior to her semifinal match, Kukino had won 36 games, while dropping just seven in the tournament.
Kukino had a relatively easy time advancing in her first two matches, Thursday, first dispatching of Kalaheo High School’s Aleina Tanabe, 6-0, 6-1, then getting past Kalani High School’s Rachel Sugiyama, 6-0, 6-3.
On the boys side, Kapa‘a High School’s Chas Okamoto came up one win shy of a spot in the finals, falling in the semis to the No. 1 seed, Jared Spiker of Kalani High School.
Okamoto, the No. 5 seed and the KIF boys singles champion, gave Spiker all he could handle, but came up just short in the 7-5, 0-6, 0-1 (6) loss. Okamoto had also not dropped a set heading into the match and continued that pattern by dealing the top seed his first lost set of the tournament.
Spiker then regrouped and broke Okamoto three times to win the second set at love, before moving on to the final by winning the tiebreaker.
Okamoto got his spot in the semifinals with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Pearl City’s Jordan Lum.
The boys singles championship will be played between Spiker and No. 2 seed Matthew Westmoreland of Island Pacific Academy.
In boys doubles, Punahou’s Brandon Lee and Erik Pang, the No. 3 seed, will take on No. 4 seed Kallen Mizuguchi and Kaito Mizutani of Waiakea. The Punahou duo took out their teammates, top-seeded Paul Okuda and Travis Yoshimoto of Punahou in the semis.
The girls doubles held seeds as the top two teams will face off for the crown. Punahou’s Jennifer Laws and Ashley Nakaoka (1), will play ‘Iolani’s Bobbi Oshiro and Kristen Poei (2).
Punahou’s strong showing in both the boys and girls brackets will see it take both team titles.
All four championship matches are scheduled to be played at 8:30 a.m. this morning at the Holua Tennis Center on the Big Island.
