Tuesday, April 24, 2001

[ HAWAII TENNIS ]

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Women’s doubles hold
court this week

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By Chris Dudley
Special to the Star-Bulletin

Power, grace and grunts are sure to fill center court in Kailua this week.

One of the most talented field of doubles teams ever to meet in Hawaii, according to event organizers, will vie in the second annual Women's Doubles Tennis Tournament at the Kailua Racquet Club tomorrow through Saturday.

Tournament play begins tomorrow as Oceania Federation Cup Team veterans Maylani Ah Hoy and Tagifano So'onalole of Samoa take on Brazil's Bianca Barreto and Lisa Blomme of Sweden at 6 p.m.

"We have an international field of players, including the state's top teaching pros," event organizer Bruce Nagel said. "This is probably the strongest field of women players ever assembled for a doubles tournament."

Ah Hoy and So'onalole played on Brigham Young-Hawaii's national championship team last year. Barreto and Blomme are Hawaii Pacific standouts.

Waianae sister sensations Janalle and Kim Kaloi battle teaching pros Angela Leong and Judy Weitz in tomorrow's second quarterfinal at 7:15 p.m.

Kim Kaloi, a 16-year-old sophomore at Kamehameha Schools, has been ranked in the top 10 as a junior in doubles play for three years.

"They're an extremely mature doubles team," Nagel said. "They don't have the power of the older college girls yet, but they have tremendous control and great versatility. There is no shot that they cannot hit."

The single-elimination event, sanctioned by the United States Tennis Association, continues each evening, with the first match starting at 6 p.m. and the second at 7:15. The third-place and championship matches are Saturday.

BYU-Hawaiii's Petra Gaspar, the top-ranked player in NCAA Division II, is sitting out the tournament to rest for upcoming national championship.

The tournament's only other conspicuous absence is the dominant University of Hawaii doubles team of Silvia Ricote and Sophia Hoglund. The Wahine are competing in the Western Athletic Conference Championships in Fresno, Calif., this week.

There is no admission charge for the tournament.

For more information, call Bruce Nagel at 262-2057.