Watch out for the freshmen. They ruled the day in doubles Wednesday in the ILH/Clay Benham Postseason Tennis Tournament.
The ‘Iolani boys team of Phuc Hyunh and Jordan Azuma, and the Punahou girls team of Katreina Corpuz and Alyssia Fossorier — all ninth graders — won tournament finals at the Patsy T. Mink Central Oahu Regional Park courts.
"I can’t believe we made it this far," Hyunh said after he and Azuma, the second seed, knocked off top-seeded Austin Hamamoto and Travis Lau of Punahou, 6-4, 6-1. "We had the teamwork to fight for this and, even though they were a lot older than us, we weren’t going to lose easy."
Added Azuma: "We had the vision before we started that we could go out and beat them. By hitting shots into the middle, we were able to force them to try to beat us."
Corpuz and Fossorier, the girls No. 1 seed, both said it was an honor to be competing for the title, never mind winning it all against second-seeded Laura Okazaki and Chloe Miwa of ‘Iolani, 6-3, 6-3.
"This is my home court and we played on my favorite court," Corpuz said. "We have really good chemistry. We could have played better, but we were really good on closing out points today."
Said Fossorier, "We showed we were willing to fight. When that last point went our way, I was pretty happy that we actually won the match."
While the freshmen were making their marks, two ILH tennis veterans pulled through for singles championships.
Punahou senior Kawika Lam kept his phenomenal winning streak intact, earning his third straight league singles title by dispatching Mid-Pacific’s Jeffrey Liang 6-0, 7-6 (5).
Lam, who has won every match he’s been in — high school or otherwise — since his sophomore year, did not expect Liang’s slow start. Many of their previous matches have been ultra close.
"I got a little tight (in the second set)," said Lam, who is the two-time defending state champion. "After a cruise in the first set, he came back to go ahead 2-0 and I got even tighter. I had to fight for it and it was a relief (to win the tiebreaker). When I was down 5-4, he had me at 40-15 and I got the next point and then he missed an easy volley (to make it deuce)."
Liang admitted that it was "an easy shot to hit" and added that his mental game was just not there from the start.
St. Francis sophomore Taylor Lau, the girls top seed and reigning state champion, found herself in a struggle early with second-seeded Skyla Alcon of Mid-Pacific. The match featured powerful ground strokes and long rallies and was tied 3-3 in the first set. Lau eventually won 7-5, 6-1.
"I stayed positive and I felt I did well moving my feet and staying in rallies," Lau said. "The first set was pretty tight and when it was 5-all, I was in a mini funk.
"It’s not too often I can represent St. Francis and win a tournament like this for my school and my family. They saw me lose (the league tournament final) last year and I was glad they were able to see me win it this time."
