If the seeds hold, Waiakea tennis coach Bill Brilhante envisions a pair of sizzling matches Saturday morning at the Big Island Interscholastic Federation championships at Holua Resort in Keauhou. ADVERTISING If the seeds hold, Waiakea tennis coach Bill Brilhante envisions
If the seeds hold, Waiakea tennis coach Bill Brilhante envisions a pair of sizzling matches Saturday morning at the Big Island Interscholastic Federation championships at Holua Resort in Keauhou.
One the boys side, Hilo’s Gil Assi could meet Parker’s Tim Schnorr, while Kealakehe’s Michelle Uyeda and Konawaena’s Tayvia Yamagata are favored to advance on their side of the girls bracket.
“Really exciting matches, potentially,” Brilhante said.
There is just one problem for the winners. Those are only the semifinals, and Hawaii Prep’s JJ Minakata and Hilo’s Emily Soares, the top seeds, likely await in the finals in the afternoon.
“Prohibitive favorites,” Brilhante said.
Uyeda, the third seed, is the defending BIIF champion, but she lost earlier this season to the second-seeded Yamagata. Soares, a junior, won a doubles title playing with her sister last season, but has played with the same dominance this season that she did as a freshman when she won BIIF singles.
While Minakata looks for a repeat, the second-seeded Schnorr, an exchange student, and third-seeded Assi, a freshman, will be playing at their first BIIFs.
“It’s going to come down to conditioning,” Brilhante said of the potential semifinals matching the 2-3 seeds.
His Warriors feature the top-seeded doubles team of Marissa Hayashi and Jordan Melchor. Hayashi finished third and second the last two years in doubles play, but she’s teaming for the first time at BIIFs with Melchor, a goalkeeper on the the Warriors’ soccer team.
“The natural progression would be for Marissa to win,” Brilhante said. “She’s a doubles specialist.”
They’ve are undefeated this season with wins against the teams seeded Nos. 2-4.
Melchor played tennis when she was younger, but took the past few years off from the court to concentrate on soccer.
“The bottom line with Jordan is she is athletic,” Brilhante said. “She has great hand speed at the net. Very strong and very fast.”
The duo’s closest match all season came Saturday at the team championships in a 7-6, 6-4 victory against Kealakahe’s Teagan Travalino and Fiona Miranda, the third seeds.
Konawaena’s Kira Ekstrom and Nikki Kunitomo are seeded second. At the team championships, they fell 6-3, 6-2 to HPA’s Mackenzie Langmade and Mai Reinvald. Langmade is the fifth seed in singles, while Reinvald and Jordan Virtue are the fourth seeds in doubles.
“Honestly, I wouldn’t mind if the (No. 2 seeds) advanced,” Brilhante said.
Perhaps the most parity can be found in boys doubles.
Konawaena’s Brant Yamamoto and Tresen Arakaki are seeded first after they avenged a loss during the regular season Saturday and held of Kealakehe’s Hiro Sogi and Cory Yamagata 7-5, 6-4.
Sogi and Yamagata are seeded third, right behind HPA’s Jake Frogley and Wayne Tan, who helped Ka Makani to the boys team title.
The BIIF only has seven slots to the HHSAA championships this season in each division, so play-in matches will be held among the quarterfinal losers to determine the final three state spots.
The action begins at 8:30 a.m. Thursday.
Singles
Boys
1. JJ Minakata, Hawaii Prep
2. Tim Schnorr, Parker
3. Gil Assi, Hilo
4. Keanu Travalino, Kealakehe
5. Jamesen Keyes, Kohala
6. Oscar Winsa-Henderson, Hawaii Prep
7. Anakele Apisaloma, Konawaena
8. Brett Guccione, Kealakehe
Girls
1. Emily Soares, Hilo
2. Tayvia Yamagata, Konawaena
3. Michelle Uyeda, Kealakehe
4. Gabrielle Bartolome, Kohala
5. Mackenzie Lagmade, HPA
6. Rashai Kailiwai, Konawaena
7. Mailani Neal, HPA
8. Brittny Marino, Kealakehe
Doubles
Girls
1. Marissa Hayashi/Jordan Melchor, Waiakea
2. Kira Ekstrom/Nikki Kunitomo, Konawaena
3. Fiona Miranda/Teagan Travalino, Kealakehe
4. Mai Reinwald/Jordan Virtue, Hawaii Prep
5. Kimberly Kamei/Samantha Zee, Waiakea
6. Malia Command/Haley Ekstrom, Konawaena
7. Kassie Kometani/Isabel Steinhoff, Kohala
8. Kili Kunitomo/Sarah Wagner, Konawaena
Boys
1. Tresen Arakaki/Brant Yamamoto, Konawaena
2. Jake Frogley/Wayne Tan, Hawaii Prep
3. Hiro Sogi/Cory Yamagata, Kealakehe
4. Alec Jones/Bryce Zeffert, Hawaii Prep
5. Michael Bartolome/Skyler Marcom-Robinson
6. Aaron Ideta/Michael Kawachika, Waiakea
7. Cody Hwang/Matthew Otani, Waiakea
8. Ryan Ogi/Kory Urada, Konawaena
