Never underestimate the power of making adjustments.

Football teams do it at halftime. Mid-Pacific tennis player Skyla Alcon did it after a loss in singles.

Instead of relying on her powerful ground strokes Saturday, Alcon concentrated on getting the ball over the net — many times using a consistently deep lob — to keep top-seeded defending champion Taylor Lau of St. Francis off balance. It paid off and Alcon captured her first — and her school’s first — girls singles title with a 6-4, 6-3 win in the Carlsmith Ball/HHSAA State Tennis Championships at Central Oahu Regional Park.

Alcon, who lost to Lau 7-5, 6-1 in the ILH girls singles championships April 22, overcame a 4-3 deficit in the first set, and fought through leg cramps in the second set to stave off Lau’s comeback attempt.

"It was a roller coaster," Alcon said. "After my loss in the ILH final, I evaluated my game and made adjustments. I watched how she beats other players. Nobody likes to receive those kinds of returns (deep, high-bounding lobs). And sometimes that’s how she does it, so I thought I would capitalize on that fact."

Lau saved three match points to break serve while fighting back from 40-love and down 5-1 in the second set. Alcon cramped at 40-all.

After holding serve to make it 5-3, Lau nearly kept the comeback going, fending off another match point but eventually losing the match by hitting a passing shot wide by less than a foot.

"It came down to who was less nervous," Lau, a sophomore, said. "There were a lot of match points and a lot of close points. The whole thing could have turned out differently if I had gotten that last game. It’s not about winning the state title four years in a row; it’s about learning what I’m good at and learning what I struggle at to become a better person and a better player."

In boys singles, Punahou’s Kawika Lam did something no other boys player has done since the Buffanblu’s Bill Bartlett in 1977 — win his third consecutive individual title. He defeated Hawaii Baptist’s Jeffrey Liang, 7-5, 6-3.

Lam fell behind 5-4 in the first set, but came back to win it. The 10th game went to deuce six times.

"It’s always a struggle against Jeffrey," Lam said. "I took deep breaths and loosened up, especially when I needed a point. And then I would tighten up when it was deuce or my advantage."

Lam said Liang played better this time than he did in their April 22 match for the ILH championship that ended 6-0, 7-6 (5).

"I am relieved and happy to have won it," added Lam, who said he would reward some friends who came to watch his match by joining them for some pickup basketball later Saturday. "I need to study — a lot coming up — but I will celebrate this. I need to celebrate it."

The ‘Iolani freshman team of Phuc Huynh and Jordan Azuma topped Punahou’s Austin Hamamoto and Travis Lau 7-6 (7), 6-4 for the boys doubles championship.

An ace by Huynh gave the Raiders an 8-7 first-set tiebreaker lead before a Buffanblu unforced error finished it off.

"We played with constant energy and focus, and that willed us through," Azuma said.

Huynh said he felt the opponents struggled somewhat after the tiebreaker loss.

"We brought a state championship back for our school," Huynh said. "That’s a big accomplishment."

Punahou’s Katreina Corpuz and Alyssia Fossorier, another freshman pair, toppled top-seeded Kamehameha-Maui’s Sarah Ikioka and Kylee Kato 6-1, 6-0 for the girls doubles title.

"Honestly, I was literally shaking after we won," Fossorier said. "I couldn’t believe it."

Said Ikioka about her and Kato: "We did not have our ‘A’ game and they were hitting it beautifully."

Punahou won its 25th straight boys team title, a national record for any school team in any sport, including 22 in a row with Rusty Komori as coach.

The Buffanblu girls team won its fourth consecutive state championship, all with Ikaika Jobe, a former boys singles champion, as the head coach.