Kaiser’s Iwakuma Swings Into Action For Hawaii Title

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Kaiser High School senior Rei Iwakuma (above) is heading to the state tennis championships on the Big Island along with Cougar boys team players Jesse Smothermon and Rei Yoshimine. Photo by Hana Nakano.

When Kaiser High School senior Rei Iwakuma takes to the court at this week’s state tennis championships on the Big Island, she will have already played the match that defined her prep career, according to her coach, Kristie Yamamoto.

“Her qualifying match (versus Kalani’s Rachael Sugiyama in the OIA individuals) went a little over three hours,” Yamamoto said.“She had lost the first set, won the second, and then she started to cramp up. She was still able to fight through and win the third set.

“She plays with a lot of heart.She’s a real motivated player, who never gives up.”

The championships begin Wednesday and will run through Saturday at both the Holua Tennis Complex and the Outrigger Keauhou Beach Resort in Konawaena. Iwakuma will be making a second straight appearance in the state tournament after competing in the doubles division last year

alongside teammate Nina Ho. When Ho elected not to try to qualify for the state tournament because of other commitments, Iwakuma moved to singles and ultimately advanced to the OIA’s quarter-final round.

Pairings for the tournament were to be announced after press time, but regardless of who Iwakuma’s first-round opponent is on Wednesday, she figures to bring her best effort.

“Singles is a tough way to qualify for states - there are a lot of talented young players,” said Yamamoto.“Once she knew she was going to have to move to singles to qualify, she put her heart and soul into it,especially with her conditioning, because she knew she’d have to be able to cover the whole court. I was really impressed with how hard she worked. I’m real proud of her.”

In the boys division, the Cougars also qualified the doubles team of Jesse Smothermon and Rei Yoshimine for the second year in a row. The pair, both of whom are three-year players in the Kaiser program, finished second in the East (to Regan Kobayashi and Nicholas Lee of Kalani) and fourth overall in the OIA recently.

“They work well together as a team and help each other with their strengths and weaknesses. Jesse is our team captain and by far the hardest-working member of the team.He comes to practice one hour early every day to work on conditioning and his foot work, and we practice six days a week.

“Rei (Yoshimine) fights hard for every point,” she added. “He’s very, very competitive - he hates to lose. He’s a consistent player who hits more from the baseline. Jesse’s strength is that he’s a strong net player and he has a very aggressive serve.”

Yamamoto likes the idea of traveling to the Big Island for the state tournament. The Cougars will stay a short distance from both the Keauhou Beach Resort and the Holua complex,helping to cut down on distractions on the days of competition.

“Being close really helps us a lot - we can just walk there,” Yamamoto said.“Situated on the far East side, it’s really far for us to get to matches (during the OIA’s season). We usually are in traffic.”