KAILUA-KONA — It was a tale of two programs at the BIIF tennis team championships at Holua Tennis Center on Saturday.
The Konawaena girls team pushed past Hawaii Preparatory Academy 3-2 for the programs first title in 20 years.
On the boys side, Hawaii Prep continued its reign of dominance in the BIIF, sweeping Konawaena 5-0 for its third title in as many years.
“It was a total team effort today,” Konawaena girls coach Debi Yamamoto said.
The victory also brings Yamamoto full circle with her seniors. She has been associated with the program for four years — three as the girls head coach. Now, she gets to see those seniors off with the schools first girls team title in two decades.
“Each match was important in different ways and it was a great cap off for all our seniors,” Yamamoto said.
After dropping their first two doubles matches, the Lady Wildcats’ No. 3 doubles team of Sarah Wagner and Kili Kunitomo recorded an important 6-3, 6-3 win over Hawaii Prep duo Teia Knoll and Maddie Wolfenberger.
“It was really nice the third doubles team won today,” Yamamoto said. “They played a very important role in both their matches today.”
Attention then turned to the final match of the day between No. 2 singles players, Rashai Kailiwai — sporting Konawaena green — and Mailani Neal representing Hawaii Prep red.
Kailiwai pulled out a 6-2, 6-2 victory, putting an exclamation point on the Wildcats historic win with a powerful return.
In the other singles match, Konawaena’s Tayvia Yamagata knocked off Alina Sabyr 6-0, 6-0. Hawaii Prep doubles winners were Mackenzie Langmade and Mai Reinvald (6-3, 6-3), and Jordan Virtue and Alua Jumabayeva (6-2, 5-7, (3)).
The matchup between the girls teams was much closer than anticipated. During the regular season, Konawaena swept HPA 5-0, but Ka Makani managed to keep it closer with a change in lineup strategy.
“We threw a changeup that we though protected against most scenarios, but after reflecting, we might had done it a little differently,” HPA coach Jeff Lewis said. “Everybody had some close matches, and we had a chance there against a team that swept us during the regular season.
Lewis did not have to do too much shuffling of his lineup on the boys side. Konawaena defaulted one of its doubles games after a player was medically unable to continue, and the rest of the Ka Makani players capped an undefeated season with a sweep of the Wildcats.
Defending boys individual champion JJ Minakata reeled off a straight set victory over Jayse Takimoto, and Ka Makani’s No. 2 singles player Oscar Winsa-Henderson defeated the Wildcat’s Pancho Shelton 3-6, 6-3, 1-0 (9). HPA’s No. 1 singles squad of Bryce Zeffert/Alec Jones were the beneficiaries of the Wildcats’ default, while the combos of Jake Frogley/Wayne Tan (6-1, 6-3), and Chris Rowe/Jeff Marks (7-5, 7-6(4)) rounded out the sweep.
“We have a great team,” said Lewis. “I can’t take a ton of credit because it was my first year here, but the boys did great and really evolved during the year as players. They grew technically, tactically and mentally on the court, while also growing as people.”
The BIIF individual championships are next week, starting Thursday at Holua.