After reaching the finals as a sophomore and the quarterfinals as junior – both times as the No. 3 seed – Hawaii Prep’s Ryo Minakata is the top seed at the state tournament, which runs Thursday-Saturday at Mauni Lani Sports & Fitness Club.
The BIIF drew more respect as well, with Hilo High’s Luke Hamano getting the third seed. Minakata beat Hamano 6-3, 6-0 for his third consecutive BIIF title last month at Mauni Lani.
Waiakea coach Bill Brilhante, who had role in determining the seeds, said Minakata’s universal tennis rating outranks anyone else in the field by a decent margin. Last season, Minakata’s state run was hampered by a blister.
In the girls draw, Waiakea’s Keilyn Kunimoto is seeded third, one spot ahead of teammate Maile Brilhante. Kunimoto enters after winning her first BIIF crown. The junior beat Brilhante in the final after taking down Kealakehe’s Melanie Uyeda in the semifinals. Uyeda is seeded sixth at states.
Punahou’s Clarise Huang, who was part of a state title-winning doubles team last season, is the top-seeded girl.
“The Waiakea singles look really strong,” Bill Brilhante said. ‘They have the possibility of going very far. The No. 1 and No. 2 seeds are strong players, but they may not be as formidable as last year.
“But we still have to show up and not look too far down the road.
Waiakea also has a pair of sixth-seeded doubles teams, Lucas Chun and Bruin Yomono, as well as Maya Atwal and Jade Brilhante.
Alicia Chun and Chloe Teramoto were the Warriors’ No. 1 girls doubles duo entering BIIFs before being upset. Should Waiakea’s two top tandems win in the round of 32 on Thursday morning, they’d face off Thursday afternoon for a spot in the quarterfinals.
One year after Iolani’s Scott Yamamoto teamed with his brother to win a state title as the No. 4 seed, Yamamoto is paired with Robert Chang as the top seed.
