Sophomore Amy Lopes of Kadena readies a forehand return against her senior teammate Lori Kanikkeberg during Friday's girls singles championship in the 2004 Far East High School Tennis Tournament. Lopes beat Kanikkeberg 6-2, 6-2. (Dave Ornauer / S&S)
(Results at end of story)
KADENA AIR BASE, Okinawa — Pusan American School in South Korea had not won a title in any Far East tournament for 10½ years. James Edwards put an end to that drought Friday.
The junior defeated Allen Chin of Seoul American in straight sets for the boys singles title, then teamed with his senior sister, Mary, to beat Seoul American’s Chris Suh and Lisa Choi in two sets for the mixed doubles crown in the Far East High School Tennis Tournament.
Meanwhile, sophomore Amy Lopes captured the girls singles gold and led co-host Kadena to the overall team championship, its first in 15 years.
“It feels good,” James Edwards said. “I got a chance to win with my sister. This is my first time playing with her and it’s her last year. And I won one for myself, too. It’s going to be a happy plane ride home.”
“I’m so happy for James,” Panthers coach Lydia Fleischer said. “He deserves it. I’m ecstatic.”
Matching power against power combined with a high-risk net game, Edwards downed Chin 6-2, 6-3. The Edwards siblings downed Suh and Choi 6-1, 6-2.
“They have been phenomenal,” Fleischer said. “They have absolutely been on it.”
The mixed doubles title was the result of combining differing playing styles along with constant communication, Mary Edwards said.
“We talked the whole entire time on the court,” she said. “Strategies, who’s going to the net, who stays back. We had to motivate and pick up each other. The things we discussed, they just came together. We clicked.”
It was Pusan American’s first Far East championship since winning the Class A girls basketball title in 1994.
Bruce Barker, who coached that team and is now Osan American’s coach, remembers teaching the Edwards siblings as elementary school students.
“I wanted them to do well,” he said. “I’m happy for them.”
Not so happy was the singles championship won by Lopes, who beat senior teammate Lori Kanikkeberg 6-2, 6-2 in a lackluster match after the two had lost the girls doubles crown 7-5, 1-6, 8-6 to Amanda Reiff and Jessica Guertin of Osan American, South Korea.
“We were working so hard as a team, and here you’re having to work against your teammate,” Lopes said.
“I really wanted the doubles, and I wanted her [Lopes] to take the singles,” Kanikkeberg said.
But the joy of capturing the team championship after finishing a distant second last year helped suppress any disappointment, especially for Lopes, who transfers to Arizona in December.
“This is a good way for me to exit,” she said.
Kadena scored 55 points, outlasting Seoul American, which totalled 53. In so doing, coach Hoa Nguyen won his second Far East team title in as many seasons; his Panthers won the Class AA girls soccer tournament last April 30 at Camp Zama, Japan.
“The kids believe in me as a coach and I have good support from parents and the school administration,” Nguyen said. “We did very well. We did what we set out to do, did what we needed to do. They stick together. We set our goal at the beginning of the year to reach that milestone. It took four years of struggle, but we did it.”
Along with Kanikkeberg and Lopes, Nguyen must bid farewell to graduating seniors Travis Dang, Kamen Christin and Tarren Fitzgerald.
“It’s going to be a rebuilding year next year,” he said. “This was the team. It’s an emotional time for me. I’m about to cry.”
At Risner Tennis Complex, Kadena Air Base, Okinawa
Final team scores
1, Kadena, Okinawa, 55; 2, Seoul American, 53; 3, Nile C. Kinnick, Japan, 33; 4, Osan American, South Korea, 31.5; 5, Yokota, Japan, 30.5; 6, Pusan American, South Korea, 27.5; 7, E.J. King, Japan, 26; 8, Taegu American, South Korea, 24; 9, Zama American, Japan, 23; 10, Kubasaki, Okinawa, 15; 11, Robert D. Edgren, Japan, 12.5; 12, Matthew C. Perry, Japan, 11.5; 13, Guam High, 10.
All-Tournament team
Boys
James Edwards, Pusan American; Allen Chin, Angela Kannik, Seoul American; Kenta Takahashi, Yokota; Hyun Min Kim, Taegu American; Amy Lopes and Lori Kanikkeberg, Kadena; Frances Delossantos, Kubasaki.
Main draws
Boys singles
Semifinals
James Edwards, Pusan American, def. Kenta Takahashi, Yokota, 6-2, 6-3; Allen Chin, Seoul American, def. Hyun Min Kim, Taegu American, 6-1, 6-2
Third place
Takahashi def. Kim 6-7, 7-6, 8-6
Championship
Edwards def. Chin 6-2, 6-3
Boys doubles
Semifinals
Thomas Kim and Allen Chin, Seoul American, def. Kenta Takahashi and Justin Acap, Yokota, 6-2, 6-2; Anthony Soroka and Kamen Christin, Kadena, def. John Will and Eric Su, Nile C. Kinnick, 6-4, 7-6 (10-8)
Third place
Will and Su def. Takahashi and Acap 6-3, 6-7 (3-7), 8-6
Championship
Kiom and Chin def. Soroka and Christin 6-4, 6-1
Girls singles
Semifinals
Amy Lopes, Kadena, def. Angela Kannik, Seoul American, 6-0, 6-0; Lori Kanikkeberg, Kadena, def. Frances Delossantos, Kubasaki, 6-3, 6-4
Third place
Kannik def. Delossantos 7-5, 6-1
Championship
Lopes def. Kanikkeberg 6-2, 6-2
Girls doubles
Semifinals
Amanda Reiff and Jessica Guertin, Osan American, def. Airamy Rivera and Katherine Herrera, Nile C. Kinnick, 6-2, 6-1; Amy Lopes and Lori Kanikkeberg, Kadena, def. Lara Deguzman and Kristia Suriben, E.J. King, 6-4, 6-0
Third place
Deguzman and Suriben def. Rivera and Herrera, 2-2, injury default
Championship
Reiff and Guertin def. Lopes and Kanikkeberg 7-5, 1-6, 8-6
Mixed doubles
Semifinals
Chris Suh and Lisa Choi, Seoul American, def. Kamen Christin and Tarren Fitzgerald, Kadena, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6; James Edwards and Mary Edwards, Pusan American, def. Matthew Guertin and Jessica Guertin, Osan American, 6-3, 6-1
Third place
Guertin and Guertin def. Christin and Fitzgerald 6-4, 6-4
Championship
Edwards and Edwards def. Suh and Choi 6-1, 6-2
Consolation draw
Boys singles
Semifinals
Lawrence Song, Osan American, def. Jason Stroup, Matthew C. Perry, 6-2, 6-0; Nathan Fine, Robert D. Edgren, def. Jeff Fenimore, Guam High, 1-6, 6-3, 7-5
Third place
Stroup def. Fenimore 6-0, 6-1
Championship
Song def. Fine 6-4, 6-2
Boys doubles
Semifinals
Brad Roh and Thomas Qian, Taegu American, def. Joey Oyen and Jae Kwan Park, Pusan American, 6-4, 5-7, 7-5; Matthew Shakespeare and Jeff Wilson, Zama American, def. Ken Brophy and Daniel Adamson, Yokota, 6-3, 6-1
Third place
Oyen and Park def. Brophy and Adamson 6-2, 7-6
Championship
Shakespeare and Wilson def. Roh and Qian 6-3, 6-4
Girls singles
Semifinals
Tomomi Ida, Yokota, def. Tori Lee, Robert D. Edgren, 7-5, 6-1; Janel Borja, Guam High, def. Abby Bayquen, E.J. King, 6-0, 6-1
Third place
Lee def. Bayquen 6-0, 6-3
Championship
Borja def. Ida 6-3, 3-6, 7-3
Girls doubles
Semifinals
Joyce Cao and Rhea Fernandez, Nile C. Kinnick, def. Jessica Brooks and Kylie Mostert, Robert D. Edgren, 6-0, 6-0; Kristina DeLeon and Tomomi Ida, Yokota, def. Danielle Porter and Cocoa Osaki, Yokota, 6-2, 6-2
Third place
Porter and Osaki def. Brooks and Mostert 6-1, 6-0
Championship
DeLeon and Ida def. Cao and Fernandez 6-3, 6-1
Mixed doubles
Semifinals
Ian Copeland and Katherine Otterson, Kadena, def. Andrew Park and Jennifer Lew, Osan American, 6-0, 6-2; Daniel Adamson and Cocoa Osaki, Yokota, def. John Craig and Roxanne Diaz, Kubasaki, 6-2, 6-3
Third place
Park and Lew def. Craig and Diaz 6-0, 7-5
Championship
Copeland and Otterson def. Adamson and Osaki 6-4, 6-0