Mikey Lim of Punahou added to his family's trophy case yesterday with a state singles title. His brother Robbie won two singles titles at Punahou.
Punahou sweeps;
Lim, Gora win titles
Inspired individual efforts added up to yet another championship performance for the Punahou tennis teams yesterday.
The Punahou boys, led by individual champion Mikey Lim, captured the program's 15th consecutive crown, while the girls edged Kamehameha by one point to claim their third straight championship on the final day of the Carlsmith Ball/HHSAA State Tennis Championships at Central Oahu Regional Park.
"This is whipped cream on top of the cake," Lim said after defeating Word of Life's Daniel Llarenas for the boys singles title yesterday. "We play for the team, and finals is just extra."
The Buffanblu boys finished with 23 points, well ahead of Iolani's total of 11. Following Lim's 7-6 (3), 6-2 victory over Llarenas, the doubles team of Andrew Mau and Will Grosswendt completed Punahou's sweep of the boys titles by beating Kamehameha's duo of Sean Tomas and Bryce Silva 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-3.
"It means the world to them," Punahou coach Rusty Komori said of the team's string of championships. "They know there's been so many great players that have come through the program and there's big shoes to fill. And they wanted to be the ones to fill the shoes to keep the tradition going."
Saint Francis junior Kalei Gora won her second straight girls singles title by rallying past Kamehameha's Heidi Kaloi 2-6, 6-2, 6-3.
Kalei Gora of Saint Francis beat Heidi Kaloi of Kamehameha in the state championship match for the second straight year.
"It's a big relief," David said. "Everybody on the team contributed.
"We have a lot of depth and everyone plays for the team, we preach that message from Day 1," coach Bernard Gusman said. "It was nice to see the team win it, because it was really everyone contributing to the team effort."
Lim, the boys top seed and younger brother of two-time state champ Robbie Lim, won a first-set tiebreaker en route to beating the eighth-seeded Llarenas and add another trophy to the family collection.
After the players stayed on serve the entire first set, Llarenas jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the tiebreaker. But Lim won the next six points, ending it with a forehand down the line, and then went up a service break early in the second set en route to the victory.
"That was the turning point of the match," Lim said of the tiebreaker. "When I was down 3-1 I had to concentrate and buckle down because I knew if I lost that point on my serve it would be tough to come back. Then on his serve, I just tried to get the ball in play and make him play a few shots."
The seventh-seeded team of Mau and Grosswendt rallied from a set down to win the doubles crown. They reached the finals by beating top-seeded teammates Jon Wong and Eric Shono in the quarterfinals and knocked off the third-seeded duo yesterday.
Gora retained the girls singles title by beating Kaloi in a three-set match for the second straight year.
After Kaloi won the first set, Gora settled down and concentrated on playing patient tennis in evening the match.
"I was trying to focus on staying in the point longer and cutting down on my mistakes," Gora said. "She was up and I had to work my way back."
Kaloi, the 2003 singles champion, went up a break early in the third set, but leg cramps forced her to request an injury timeout with the set tied at 3-3. Gora kept her on the run the rest of the way and won the final four games.
The top-seeded team of Doane and Shin became the ninth Kamehameha duo to claim the girls doubles championship in the past 12 years with a dominant run through the tournament capped by yesterday's victory.
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