KADENA AIR BASE, Okinawa – To Grace Cho, the match seemed interminable.

Point by point, game by game, set by set, hour after hour the Seoul American senior battled against Seisen International sophomore Matilde Piras. Rallies extended long seconds, even more than a minute at times. Scoring points seemed like pulling teeth.

When Wednesday’s Far East Tennis Tournament singles semifinal finally ended, with Cho on top 6-2, 6-7 (3-7), 6-2, she sighed, unmistakable relief drenching her countenance as she approached the net for the post-match handshake with an equally relieved but disappointed Piras.

“I was so tired. I wanted it to be over,” Cho said. She particularly cited the second set, in which Piras fought off two match points while trailing 6-5 to send the set to a tiebreak. “It made me really depressed. I wanted to give up, but I wanted to go to the finals, too.”

With the win, the No. 3-seeded Cho – DODDS’ last hope for a title – booked a berth in Thursday’s singles championship against the top seed, Lili Kobayashi of American School In Japan. Kobayashi ousted Piras’ teammate, Ana Clara Borga, 6-4, 6-3 in the other semifinal.

While Kobayashi dispatched Borga in short order, Cho and Piras played for 3 hours and 10 minutes, believed to be the longest Far East girls singles match in tournament history.

And while the first- and third-set scores indicated one-sided wins for Cho, they were anything but. Of the 29 games the two played, including the tiebreak, the players either went to 30 points or deuce 22 times. And the lengthy rallies also extended the time on the court.

“I saw 20-plus-stroke rallies numerous times,” said Piras’ coach, Mike Shappell.

“They’re tough. Both players are tough,” Falcons coach David Abbott said.

At times, the play and its accompanying repartee grew a bit testy. Piras challenged a couple of close line calls in the second set (players make their own calls in match), to the point where an assistant coach from a neutral team was asked to make the line calls.

In the third set, Cho finally went up a couple of breaks and put away the match – going much further in the singles draw than she imagined she would, Cho said.

“I thought I would lose the quarterfinal” to Erin Blank of American School In Japan on Tuesday, Cho said of a match she won 8-1. “It was luck, though. I’m happy with where I am right now. I’ll just play my game” against Kobayashi in the final.

Compounding Cho’s exhaustion was the fact that she also plays doubles, with teammate Ashley Shirriff, and her day was not yet done.

“I’m more worried about a follow-on in girls doubles,” Abbott said. “I’m extremely proud (of Cho), but more concerned about their well-being.”

It turned out, the two got about four hours’ rest before heading back on court, Piras playing alongside Borga. The first set was tight, with Seisen prevailing 7-5, then making quick work of Cho and Shirriff in the second 6-1.

Cho insisted that the single semifinal marathon didn’t affect her play in the doubles defeat. “I wasn’t tired,” she said.

Shirriff and Cho, who took third last year, go for third again Thursday against Kaymie Shiozawa and Li Hui Thai of Seisen.

Also in the mix are Seoul American’s Joshua Gagnet and Annie Yeom and Kubasaki’s Mark Ebarle and Allie Powers, who face off in Thursday’s mixed-doubles third-place match.

Edgren, Osan spikers to meet for spot in D-II finalCAMP ZAMA, Japan – Robert D. Edgren, the DODDS Japan tournament runner-up, and Osan, the highest DODDS finisher in Korea’s postseason tournament, booked spots in Thursday’s championship bracket final of the Far East Division II Volleyball Tournament.

The Cougars on Wednesday beat International School of the Sacred Heart in three sets to reach the championship-bracket final and get within two wins of their fourth Far East title.

The Eagles needed four sets to send Matthew C. Perry to the knockout bracket. Edgren is trying for its first D-II title, indeed its first berth in a Far East tournament final.

Kubasaki reaches first D-I final; ASIJ aims to four-peatYOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan – For the first time, a Kubasaki volleyball team will play in the finals of a Far East Division I Tournament. The Dragons booked their berth in Thursday’s final by downing Seisen International 25-17, 25-22, 25-18 in Wednesday’s semifinals. They’ll face American School In Japan, back in the final for the fourth straight year, and needing just one more victory to capture the tournament title for the fourth consecutive year. And for the first time in that span, they won’t be playing Nile C. Kinnick. The Mustangs saw to that by beating the Red Devils 25-17, 25-16, 25-14 in Wednesday’s semifinal. Kinnick plays Seisen for third place on Thursday.

The ASIJ-Kubasaki title tilt will be a rematch of the Mustangs' 25-18, 25-15 round-robin victory over the Dragons on Tuesday. It was a match that Kubasaki coach Michael Hogen said he wouldn't view the film of, unless they reached the final and if it was against ASIJ, which it will be.

"We got smoked pretty bad" by ASIJ on Tuesday, Hogen said, adding that the Dragons hope to devise a strategy to deal with the Mustangs' No. 1 hitting option, reigning tournament MVP Mia Weinland.

Weinland "is a handful and is not easy to handle," Hogen said. "We're not used to having to dig 10-foot lines and some of the advanced hits she can deliver. We're going into tomorrow with the thought if you're going to beat us, it's not going to be because of Mia. We have to disrupt the way they play."

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