The BIIF season is in the books, but there at least two league alums gearing up for college championships.
The BIIF season is in the books, but there at least two league alums gearing up for college championships.
Junior Sarah Dvorak, a 2013 Waiakea graduate, already has helped the No. 6 Texas Tech’s women tennis team break the program record for wins heading into the Red Raiders’ Sweet 16 match against No. 11 Auburn on Friday in Athens, Georgia.
Dvorak had a big hand in Texas Tech’s NCAA tournament first-round victory last Friday in Lubbock, Texas, clinching a victory against Quinnipiac in an easy 6-3, 6-0 match at No. 5 singles. Earlier, Dvorak and Sabrina Federici, the No. 26-ranked doubles tandem in the country, won their match 6-0.
On Saturday in the second round, Dvorak and Federici lost 6-1 to Denver’s No. 11 duo, and Dvorak’s singles match was tied a set apiece when the Red Raiders advanced.
Hailed as Texas Tech’s highest-ranked recruit when she left the Big Island, Dvorak is 12-11 in singles matches this season and she and Federici are 16-9 at No. 1 doubles.
Dvorak is one of three Big Island women playing Division I tennis:
• Diana Wong, a former Hilo Vikings and 2016 Hawaii Academy of Arts and Science graduate, ended her season with New Mexico with 12 consecutive singles victories, this one at No. 3, and also won at No. 2 doubles in a 4-3 loss to San Jose State in the quarterfinals of the Mountain West Conference championships.
Wong finished her freshman season 16-5 in singles and 9-11 in doubles.
• Emily Soares, Hilo 2016, went 8-8 in singles during her freshman season at Portland and was 8-9 in doubles.
The Pilots (8-12) missed qualifying for the West Coast Conference championships
Golf
Ciera Min, Waiakea 2013, finished tied for 12th at the 11-over for Gonzaga at the WCC championships. The senior was the defending champion.
In 28 rounds in 2016-17, Min’s stroke average was 73.61.
Baseball
Dylan Shiraki, Honokaa 2012, carries a 2-1 record into a key series for Northern Colorado that starts Thursday against Chicago State. The Bears (19-28) are looking to reach the Western Athletic Coast tournament, and Shiraki, a left-hander by way of Eastern Arizona Community College, will be one of six seniors honored Saturday in Greeley, Colo.
Shiraki pitched three shutout innings in relief last Friday at UT Rio Grand Valley. He’s third on the team with a 4.97 ERA, striking out 25 batters in 29 innings.
Track and field
Keili Dorn, Kealakehe 2015, qualified for the NAIA championships for Emory-Riddle after recording a time of 17 minutes, 33.09 seconds in the 5,000 meters.
As a freshman at Vanguard, Dorn qualified for the NAIA cross-country national championships.