Yuan Jia and Elwen Li (BYU), Champions

KAILUA, OAHU - November 21, 2009 Elwen Li and Yuan Jia (BYU) defeated Barbara Pinterova and Katarina Poljakova (UH) 6-2, 7-5 in the championship match of the Island Design Center Women's Night Doubles Tournament at the Kailua Racquet Club. This was a tourney of quality women's tennis at every round and the final represented one of the best in recent history. The fans stayed through a rain delay into the blustery night to see what the remaining survivors in the draw had left for the last test after four straight nights of competition.

FINALS

Elwen Li, originally from the People's Republic of China, is the veteran three time winner of the Women's Night Doubles. She has never lost a match the Kailua Racquet Club. This year was a benefit for the Susan Koman for the Cure Foundation, an organization that aims to eliminate breast cancer, something close to Elwin Li's heart as her mother wages her own personal battle with breast cancer.

On the court, Elwen is driven, focused, tempered with measured strokes and little wasted action. Solid and unflappable, though not the biggest hitter on the court, her groundstrokes absorb the power coming off her opponent's racket and return consistently to hard to reach locales on the court. Elwen's strength is her brain power and an agile mind. She leverages her strengths against her opponents' tendencies and has the finesse and heart of a winner.

Elwen speaks of her partner, Yuan or "Jia" as she is called by team mates and fans and also from the People's Republic of China, in a knowing and insightful manner. Jia is the gun, the big hitter, to Elwen as the setter, the steady, who creates the environment for her partner's power to shine. Jia obliged with force, accuracy, consistency and also sealed numbers of points with effective short and wide angles. Together they were textbook complementary, poised and focused on victory.

"Kate" Poljakova and "Barbs" Pinterova (UH), FInalists

The challengers were UH's #1 team, Barbara Pinterova and Katarina "Kate" Poljakova, new recruits settling into island lifestyle and the University of Hawaii's sub-culture. The Slovaks are built for tennis, tall, lithe, quick and explosive. They like the ball hard and fast. Similar in style and pace to each other, they put together a formidable team, with strategy, good movement and shot making ability. They could dominate on sheer talent and force. Elwen and Jia, however, presented to them the variety that wasn't their preference. Jia traded blows from the baseline and was equally comfortable at the net. Elwin would cover and insert more variety of pace to mix it up and prevent their opponents from settling into a groove. Barbara and Kate traded runs in the second set and fought every game in dramatic and often winning fashion before running out of opportunity to catch and extend. Both teams exhibited an apex of play for the tournament and were appreciative and gracious at the awards.

Alyssa Nafarrete, Maraika Biglmaier (UH), 3rd Place

PLAYOFFS

Maraike Biglmaier and Alyssa Nafarrete (UH) defeated Salina Aranda and Jenny Chin 8-6 (BYU) in a tight rope eight game pro set playoff for 3rd and 4th place. The UH team aggressed and executed, taking over the real estate in the forecourt, communicating with each other and mixing it up with short wide angles as well as covering the many lobs that came to attempt to stifle their charges. Salina and Jenny played an impassioned match, trying everything from whaling on high groundies to topspin lobs and poaching, but UH met every challenge and eventually prevailed, even past Jenny's lefty serve and gutsy gets. Salina was nails too, but UH hammered and carved out the majority of winners.

Salinas Aranda, Jenny Chin (BYU), 4th Place

In the end, the crowd was behind all four players for their displays of skill, talent, athleticism, character and personality. Jenny took a moment to recognize the Kailua crowd for their warmth and aloha, their terrific interest in women's tennis. As Jenny reflected, with the expansion of this tournament and in conjunction with other local progress in the community, women's tennis in Hawaii is recasting itself in a new, brighter light.

Roger Gagon, owner of Island Design Center

CLOSING AND AN OPENING

Island Design Center's owners, Roger Gagnon and Tim Bouliane are title sponsors of the event. Hailing from Maui, the two men are reaching out and changing women's lives for the better through the support of excellence across the channels. Sponsoring the tourney is also a creative action by a son and his buddy to realize a tribute to a mother lost to breast cancer.

Local Artist, Thomas Deir and Leilani Magee, Principal of HIT

The final night ended with Thomas Deir Studios and Hawaiian Isles Tennis gifting a Thomas Deir whale poster as special prizes to all the players in the draw for inspiring women's tennis in Hawaii. The whale is the symbol of Na Kohola, a subset of the Hawaiian Isles Tennis (HIT) Women's 5.0+ group that trains, competes and does community service together in pursuit of excellence.

Bridgette Strickland was awarded the Sportsmanship award and a check for $8,000 was presented to the Susan B. Komen For the Cure Foundation.

NEW ERA

Welcome to a new era in Hawaii women's tennis. This year's event was a breakthrough in participation and the only professional prize money tournament for Women in Hawaii. The tourney has traditionally been for eight teams and was limited to being an invitational. This year, twelve non-collegiate players stepped up and represented a third of the expanded draw, including an alternate team. Perhaps one year, it will also be an Open like it's brother tourney the KRC MND which sported 56 teams this year. Bruce Nagel Team and the KRC community have led the way and shown the dedication, charity and hospitality that has become a statewide hallmark.

Bev and Bruce Nagel, General Manager of KRC

College Players: (22)

Elwen Li (BYU)
Yuan Jia (BYU)
Shawni Porter (BYU)
Salina Aranda (BYU)
Jenny Chin (BYU)

Barbara Pinterova (UH)
Katarina Poljakova (UH)
Mariake Biglmaier (UH)
Alyssa Nafarrete (UH)
Allison Gobel (UH)
Mari Tadaki (UH)
Dasha Lagmay (UH)

Ingrid Czeh (HPU)
Zora Vickova (HPU)
Nina Mihova (HPU)
Tinka Mihova (HPU)
Alexandra Stankovic (HPU)
Sandra Wikstrom (HPU)

Tiffany De Vincent (CH)
Yuka Kondo (CH)
Stacey Chaussoy (CH)
Natalie Phangphengdy (CH)

Post and Pre-College Players: (12)

Anastasiya Manet (HPU)
Lauren Shin (HPU)
Shana Peete (FS)
Melinda Wong (UH)
Bridgette Strickland (UH)
Leilani Magee (UPS)
Audra Takara (CH)
Dragica Joksimovic (HPU)
Andrea Munch'Hermansen (HPU)
Mimi Kennell (BYU)
Rie Yukihiro
Scout Shutter (PUN)

Complete Results

MidWeek article by Jack Danilewicz

HIT Photo Albums:

KRC Women's Night Doubles 11.21.09

KRC Women's Night Doubles 11.18.09

KRC Women's Night Doubles Pro Am 11.17.09

KRC Women's Night Doubles 11.16.09

Tags: 5.0+, Aranda, Biglmaier, BYU, Chin, Deir, Gagnon, Jia, Kohola, KRC, Li

This entry was posted on Monday, November 23rd, 2009 at 3:39 am and is filed under College Collage, Event Spot, HIT Line, Oahu, Tourney Times. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.