April Wong and Michelle Uyeda claimed the BIIF doubles tennis championship for Kealakehe in 2017 and advanced all the way to the finals of the HHSAA championships.
They parted ways for college but their winning ways hardly stopped.
Wong fashioned a successful freshman season at Azusa Pacific, helping the Division II Cougars make the West Regionals. She finished 17-6 in singles play, getting matches at No. 3 (1-1) after thriving on court 5 with an 11-3 record.
Her final win of the season helped Azusa win the Pacific West Conference championship in April.
Uyeda nearly got off to a perfect start to her college career at Division III Linfield (Oregon) and was named West Region Rookie of the Year. She went 14-0 in singles while playing all her matches in the top three slots, including two at No. 1.
Uyeda was one-half of a duo that won 11 of 12 No. 2 doubles matches, losing only in the championship match of the Northwest Conference Tournament.
Here is a look at how other Big Islanders fared during the tennis season:
• Sara Tsukamoto of Kailua-Kona finished her freshman campaign at Division I Cal Davis with a 13-7 mark, including 11-0 at No. 5. She was part of two doubles tandems, combining to go 13-3.Tsukamoto didn’t attend high school on the Big Island.
• Marissa Hayashi (Waiakea), Mai Kobayashi (Kealakehe) and Callie Oyama (Hilo High) each played for Division III Pacific in Oregon. Hayashi, a junior, fared better in doubles, going 3-8, then she did in singles, 0-11, once playing No. 2. Kobayashi, a senior, and Oyama were 0-3 at No. 3 doubles, while Oyama, a freshman, enjoyed success at No. 6 singles going 5-3 and 5-5 overall. Kobayashi went 0-4 in singles.
• Junior Mackenzie Langmade (Hawaii Prep) went 4-11 at No. 2 singles for Lees-McRae (Division II, North Carolina ) and also played No. 1 doubles, going 5-10. She earned a spot on the Academic All-Conference team.
• George Fox freshman Danielle Brown (Hilo) went 2-3 in singles for the D-III school in Oregon.
• Freshman Cameron Ventura (Konawaena) got into three singles matches and two in doubles, winning once each, for Linfield.
• Junior co-captain Malani Neal (Hawaii Prep) won two No. 1 singles matches for Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (D-III, New York) and also played some No. 1 doubles.
• UH-Hilo freshman Pancho Shelton (Konawaena) and Whittier sophomore Michael Kawachika (Waiakea) were listed on their team rosters but didn’t play in any matches.
Editor’s note: Are we missing anybody? If you know of a Big Islander who played college tennis in 2018 not listed, email sports@hawaiitribune-herald.com. Sarah Dvorak, Diana Wong and Emily Soares were covered in a previous report.
