Redemption for the stumbles of 2007 is apparently not confined to the Far East’s top high school cross-country runners and teams — tennis players are making amends as well.

Kyle Sprow and Eliott Mason of Kadena, losers in the Far East High School Tennis Tournament’s boys doubles final last year, routed Nile C. Kinnick’s Jay Pothula and John Bogen 6-0, 6-3 in Wednesday’s championship at Kadena’s Risner Tennis Complex.

"It’s good to redeem ourselves this year," said Sprow, the defending Far East singles champion.

It was a far cry from a 7-6, 6-4 loss to two-time boys doubles champions Kenta Takahashi and Ken Brophy of Yokota last year, a match in which Sprow said he and Mason were unprepared for the Yokota duo’s power game.

"That threw us off. I don’t think we were ready for that. They played extremely well on big points. They played clutch tennis," Sprow said.

"We learned a lot from that. Take it one point at a time, execute our strategy and play our game, play our style."

Sprow and Mason plowed through the first set unscathed, but Pothula and Bogen began pressing more with their first services and serving returns.

"They played a lot smarter," Mason said.

But Mason and Sprow arrived at a break chance for the match, and Sprow rushed the net to put away a hard backhand passing shot to end it.

"It was a good last point," Sprow said. "It summarized the match. Great defense and a great shot to end the point. A great way to get redemption for last year."

For Mason, the victory also atoned for a miserable 2007 Far East in which he exited the singles in the second round. In addition to doubles gold, Mason also reached Thursday’s singles championship against his teammate Sprow.

"To play all the way to the finals and winning doubles, it’s really exciting," Mason said, adding he hopes more than anything that Kadena can win its first team title in four years. "That’s No. 1 on my list."

Also seeking a better result in doubles were defending Far East girls singles champion Kennedy Allen and her playing partner Melissa Bruhnke of Seoul American. They finished second last year to Kristia and Rizalina Suriben of E.J. King.

On Wednesday, they led Guam High’s Amber Gadsden and Christina Payne 6-2, 4-1, 15-30 before a heavy shower forced the girls doubles final to be suspended until Thursday morning.

Allen also faced Kadena’s Elissa Mason in her bid for a repeat singles gold on Thursday.

Gadsden and Payne were involved in perhaps the longest and most exciting match in many years at Far East.

In the girls doubles quarterfinals, the Panthers duo battled E.J. King’s Bria Smith and Joni Fatora hammer and tongs through a second-set tiebreaker, in which Smith and Fatora fought off two match points.

Finally, 2 hours and 40 minutes into the match, Gadsden and Payne emerged victorious 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 6-4.

"I’m tired, but I’m so happy it’s over," Gadsden said. "I was really determined to win and I wanted to do whatever it took."

Kinnick spikers primed for Class AA title run

DODDS-Japan girls volleyball champion Nile C. Kinnick looked anything but on the first day of the Far East Girls Class AA Volleyball Tournament on Guam, going an unimpressive 5-3 in pool play.

But Mary Niemeyer, Marina Nakayama, Camille Kawamoto and coach Al Garrido’s Red Devils righted the ship the next two days, going 5-1 in division play. Garrido said he was hoping for bigger and better things as single-elimination play began Thursday at Andersen Air Force Base.

"We’re ready to roll," Garrido said of the Devils, seeded ninth in the bracket.

Inexperience, he said, affected his seven players new to Far East. "Anybody who knows anything about Far East knows you have to have composure. For those seven girls, it was all brand new. They didn’t know how to react," Garrido said.

Kinnick gained momentum, Garrido said, during its Day 2 sweep of Seisen International, in which the Devils rallied in both sets. "If you can point to one game that turned it around, that was the one," he said.

The Devils began bracket play with a match against John F. Kennedy of Guam. The winner was to face top-seeded George Washington of Guam.

Osan hopes to limit mental errors in Class A bracket play

Though defending champion Osan American brings a 6-0 pool-play record into Far East Girls Class A Volleyball Tournament double-elimination play, Cougars coach Cari Pease sounded a cautionary note.

"I told the girls, after tomorrow it’s a completely different bracket and completely different ball game," she said.

Despite their great play so far, Pease’s charges "definitely have some areas to improve. We had a few mental mistakes … we need to minimize our errors."

Osan claimed the top spot in the playoff bracket by sweeping Tokyo’s International School of the Sacred Heart 25-17, 25-17, 25-21. The Cougars awaited the winner of a first-round encounter between Yongsan International-Seoul and Matthew C. Perry of Japan.

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