St. Francis junior Taylor Lau advanced to her third consecutive girls singles final and Punahou maintained its team lead in both boys and girls play as the Carlsmith Ball/HHSAA State Tennis Championships entered today’s final day at the Fairmont Orchid Hawaii Tennis Center on the Big Island.
The third-seeded Lau, the 2014 state champion and ’15 runner-up, defeated second-seeded Katreina Corpuz of Punahou 6-3, 6-4 on Friday. Lau will face the Buffanblu’s Alyssia Fossorier, who upset top-seeded Emily Soares of Hilo, 6-4, 6-3.
There were no upsets on the boys singles side, with top-seeded Andre Ilagan of Farrington topping Punahou’s Mckenna Fujitani 6-3, 6-3 and second seed Phuc Huynh of ‘Iolani beating Mid-Pacific’s fourth-seeded Hideto Kitagawa, 7-6 (1), 6-2.
The boys doubles final matches top-seeded Austin Yamamoto and Hia Lam of Punahou against Mid-Pacific’s Reyn Miyagawa-Seann Esaki, the fourth seeds. Yamamoto-Lam beat Jordan Azuma and Joey Hu of ‘Iolani 6-1, 4-6, 7-6 (3) and Miyagawa-Esaki defeated Rayden Murata and Koby Murata of Kalani 7-6 (5), 6-3.
Top-seeded Sarah Ikioka and Kylee Kato of Kamehameha-Maui will face Konawaena’s Rashai Kailiwai-Tayvia Yamagata, the fifth seeds, who upset No. 2 Laura Okazaki-Chloe Miwa of ‘Iolani, 6-3, 6-3. Ikioka-Kato topped Serena Le and Clarise Huang of Punahou 7-5, 6-4.
The Buffanblu boys are seeking their 26th straight team title, 49th overall. The Buffanblu girls, winners of the past 13 team championships, are looking for their 42nd overall.
