Thursday, April 26, 2001
Power wins night What happens when power is pitted against speed? Power wins.
doubles opener
BYUH prevails over HPU
By C. Dudley
Special to the Star-BulletinThe Brigham Young University-Hawaii tennis team of Hana Krivonozkova and Maylani Ah Hoy put on a power display in their first round win in the Women's Night Doubles at Kailua Racquet Club last night.
Kivonozkova and Ah Hoy bested the finesse game played by Hawaii Pacific University's Bianca Barreto and Lisa Blomme, 6-4, 6-7, 6-5.
The Seasider women started with miscues, going down 3-0 in the first set before coming back for the win.
"I just told myself to relax and hit the ball in," Ah Hoy said. "It came together after that."
Barreto broke Ah Hoy's serve in the first set, leading to the 3-0 lead. But the 23-year-old Czech-born Krivonozkova turned the momentum with her big serve.
With her first serve the crowd of more than 200 let out a gasp.
But Barreto and Blomme would not let the match slip away. They rallied to win a tie-break for the second set.
But Barreto's inconsistency on service proved costly. She won one game without allowing a point, but lost the next by double faulting three times in a row.
"We were just nervous," Barreto said.
"We'd win three in a row and then lose four. It didn't make any sense."
Suffering from the pain of total knee reconstruction and wearing a knee brace, Barreto says she's always in pain.
Ah Hoy and Krivonozkova played for BYU-Hawaii in place of Tagifano So'onalole and Petra Gaspar, who were resting for the Division II Regional Championships to be held in Laie next week.
In last night's second match, sisters Janalle and Kim Kaloi beat local teaching pros Angela Leong and Judy Weitz, 6-4, 6-4.
Action continues today as Ashlee Ashba and Rosie Bareis take on HPU's No. 1 doubles team -- Lani Matsunaga and Fleurette Miranti -- in the early match at 6 p.m.
Vanne Akagi-Bustin and Sylvia Schenck take on BYUH's No. 2 doubles team -- Tomoko Sukagawa and Kellie Taguchi -- in the late match.
Semifinal matches will be played tomorrow night.
The women's doubles tournament, in its second year, offers more than $2,000 in prize money.
The winners of the tournament earn $1,000, with payouts through fourth place.
http://www.byuh.edu
http://www.hpu.edu