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Americans still standing at Waikoloa

Two Americans remain in the singles draw of the Hilton Waikoloa USTA Challenger.

Eric Taino rallied past Yen-Hsun Lu 1-6, 7-5, 6-1 in yesterday's men's quarterfinals and faces Alejandro Falla of Colombia today.

"I just hung in there. I think not giving up is a big part of everything," said Taino. "I think he was really out playing me for most of the match. Once I was able to get him down a little bit with a couple of good passes, I think his level dropped a bit."

Russian-born Dmitry Tursunov, hailed as the future of American tennis and the only seed remaining in the men's draw, defeated Brazil's Bruno Soares 6-3, 6-4.

"I don't think that either one of us played really great tennis today," said Tursunov. "I think the difference was that on the key points, I was a bit calmer and played it a little safer."

Tursunov said he will keep the same game plan against Jan Frode Andersen of Norway today.

"I think the key for me in the semifinals is to play the same game I did yesterday but a little more consistently," he added. "I think today I went for some shots that just weren't there. If I stay in the rallies long enough, the openings will show up."

On the women's side, No. 1 seed Melinda Czink of Hungary faces No. 8 seed Melissa Irvin. Irvin defeated fellow American StephanieHazlett 6-7(2), 6-2, 6-3.

In an all-American men's doubles final, No. 2 seeds Scott Humphries and Brian Vahaly face No. 3 seeds Brandon Coupe and Travis Parrott.

On the women's side, American Amanda Augustus and Natalie Grandin of South Africa upset the No. 2 seeds yesterday to meet No. 1 Gisela Dulko and Patricia Tarabini of Argentina.

Hawaii loses to No. 2 Stanford again

The Rainbow Wahine tennis team lost for the second time this season to second-ranked Stanford, falling 6-1 yesterday at the Taube Tennis Center.

Freshman Kana Aikawa earned Hawaii's only victory with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Jessica Leck at No. 6 singles. In the teams' prior meeting in November at the Kapalua Resort on Maui, Aikawa defeated Leck 6-4, 6-4 for UH's only win.

The Rainbow Wahine (1-2) continue its road trip with a meeting against San Francisco today at Golden Gate Park.

Baptist wins in sudden death

Kristofer Baptist defeated Canadian Tour player Tim Newbolt in sudden death to win the Maui Tour's first tournament of the year at Waiehu on Wednesday.

The sudden death playoff lasted for three holes and ended with Baptist's par. Jim Olsen finished third with a 75 which placed him atop the Senior game. Newbolt and Shawn Pederson won the team competition.

The next Maui Tour event is tentatively scheduled at The Challenge at Manelle in mid-February. Interested players should call the Maui Golf Shop at 875-4653.

Schmidt qualifies in triple jump

Ryan Schmidt, a junior on the Cornell track and field team qualified for the IC4A championships in the triple jump last Saturday.

A graduate of KaahumanuHou School on Maui, he leaped 47 feet, 8 1/2 inches at the Cornell/Brown/Harvard triangular in Ithaca, N.Y. Schmidt also placed second in the long jump (24-5) and third in the high jump (6-7), helping the Big Red win the seven-team meet.

NFL players to talk to Hawaii students

Former University of Hawaii football player Kynan Forney is one of four NFL players visiting students next week.

Now of the Atlanta Falcons, Forney will tour the island with Chuck Wiley (Minnesota Vikings), Kevin Mawae (New York Jets), (Atlanta Falcons) and Jed Weaver (San Francisco 49ers). The players will be visiting students at King Intermediate, Castle High, Nanakuli High and Waianae High on Monday.

In addition to talking with students, the NFL athletes will also be conducting youth clinics throughout the state this week.

Warriors play all-star team in semi-pro league

The Hawaiian Warriors, a semi-pro football team, will take on the undefeated Free Agent Scouting Combine All Star team on Feb. 7 at 7 p.m. at the Waianae High School football field.

FASCO, coached by Golden West College's Richard Wade, is comprised of some of the best semi-pro players in the country. The All Stars haven't lost a game in two years. The Warriors last defeated FASCO three years ago.

Hawaii's game against the Snoop Dogg All Stars has been postponed to a later date.

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ILH-OIA games tentatively set

Kahuku plays Punahou and Kailua plays Saint Louis in interleague football games in the first week of the 2004 season, according to the tentative Oahu Interscholastic Association schedule.

The OIA and ILH announced in November their intention to schedule many interleague early-season games that do not count toward a team's regular-season record.

In another first-week interleague game (the dates and sites are not firm yet), Farrington plays Kamehameha, reviving an old Kalihi rivalry.

Iolani vs. McKinley, Damien vs. Kaimuki and Castle vs. Pac-Five round out the first week of tentative interleague games.

Kapolei vs. Saint Louis, Waianae vs. Kamehameha and Mililani vs. Punahou highlight the second week of the three-week plan. Other games are Nanakuli vs. Damien, Pearl City vs. Iolani and Aiea vs. Pac-Five. In week three, Leilehua plays Pac-Five and Roosevelt plays Damien.

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See line scores and results
in the [ Scoreboard ] section.