Moanalua junior Joshua Dela Cruz has patterned his tennis game around a player not much older than he is, and it appears to be working.
Dela Cruz won the boys title and Na Menehune freshman Ashley Kurizaki won the girls crown at the OIA tennis individual championships on Saturday at Jarand M.Y. Iwase Tennis Complex.
Kaiser’s Tavin Lee and Merik Chun won the boys doubles title and Mililani’s Jazlyn Miyamura and Arissa Dang took home the girls doubles championship.
Dela Cruz beat Kahuku’s Marcus Gomez 6-2, 6-2 in the boys final.
“I love my forehand. I also like drop shots,” Dela Cruz said. “I want to resemble Carlos Alcaraz in some way, a professional on tour right now.”
Alcaraz is a 19-year-old Spaniard who has won eight ATP Tour titles, including last year’s U.S. Open, and is ranked No. 2 in the world.
Dela Cruz wasn’t disrupted by a rain delay that paused all matches for 30 minutes.
“I was feeling pretty good on the court,” said Dela Cruz, who held serve throughout the match. “I was not missing much and I was playing like how I wanted to play, and it got me the win.”
Kurizaki defeated Kaiser’s Isabella Pampulov 6-0, 6-1 in the girls final.
“I was just playing my game style and it worked,” Kurizaki said.
Dela Cruz and Kurizaki swept all of their opponents for Moanalua this season, with Kurizaki losing a match by default.
The top OIA boys and girls players in singles and doubles will compete at the HMSA/HHSAA State Championships, which will be held May 4-6 at Jarand M.Y. Iwase Tennis Complex.
“I feel like I can do some pretty big damage and maybe win it all. Who knows? We’ll see,” Dela Cruz said.
In the boys doubles final, Lee and Chun, both Kaiser sophomores, beat Moanalua’s Cody Chun and Harrison Law 6-3, 4-6, 7-5.
The match was emotional, with players on both sides often yelling after winning points.
Lee said the rain delay affected him and Chun.
“Second set, the rain came and it was a momentum turndown,” he said. “They were above us at that time and we weren’t really there, so that cost us the second set.”
In the final set, Lee said: “We just played more consistent and steady. We weren’t going for too big, too much, and we closed it out.”
In the girls doubles final, Miyamura and Dang beat fellow Trojans Zoe Hirata/Macallister Graves 6-0, 6-1.
“We came into this knowing we would probably have to play our teammates in the finals,” said Miyamura, who attends Hawaii Technology Academy and competes for the Trojans. “We worked really hard together this whole season.”
Miyamura and Dang, both seniors, hadn’t played doubles together prior to this year.
“We grew up together. We’ve been playing tournaments since we were very young,” said Miyamura, who didn’t play high school tennis last year. “Just from that we know how each other plays. We know how to work together.”
Miyamura accepted her medal at the awards ceremony, while Dang wasn’t present because she was getting ready for Mililani’s senior prom.
