Punahou boys, girls on
top in state tennis

The Punahou boys and girls tennis squads have opened up slight leads going into today's quarterfinals of the Hawaii High School Athletic Association Tennis Championships.

The Buffanblu won 13 of their 14 second-round matches, then won nine of their 13 third-round matches on the second day of competition at the Central Oahu Regional Park yesterday.

In the boys division, 36-time state champion Punahou leads rival Iolani by three points.

The Buffanblu got a boost in the second round when unseeded Erik Shoji upset Hawaii Prep's Tim Quan, 6-3, 7-6 (1). Shoji lost to teammate Alex Ching in the third round in three sets.

No. 1 seed Mikey Lim of Punahou cruised to wins in the second and third rounds, dropping just two games throughout the day.

Aaron Tada of Hilo was able to overcome a 2-6 loss in the first set to advance past No. 4 seed Jordan Kukino of Kauai with 7-5 and 6-3 wins in the final two sets.

The Punahou girls won all of their matches in the second round, but lost three of seven in the third.

The Buffanblu still lead their nearest competitors by six points headed into the quarterfinals.

Upsets were limited in doubles play, with only one seeded team prematurely bounced from the tournament. That occurred when Pearl City's Jessica Lum and Candace Chen came back to defeat Mililani's fifth-seeded Megan Yoshimoto and Erica Kunihisa 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the second round.

Lum and Chen advanced to the quarterfinals with a straight-sets win in the third round.

Defending state champion Kalei Gora of Saint Francis easily moved into the quarterfinals with 6-0, 6-0 wins in Day 2. However, there were a couple of top-10 seeds in the girls singles tournament who left early.

Hawaii Prep's Megan Pautler defeated No. 8 Paige Sumida, 7-6 (3), 6-2, while No. 5 Christie Pagatpatan of Waipahu lost her third-round match against No. 10 Sara Yoshinaga of Iolani 6-4, 6-3.

Quarterfinal matches begin today at 9:30 a.m., followed by the semifinals at 3:30 p.m.