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Chloe Lee connects.

Humphreys' Chloe Lee is now a two-time KAIAC singles champion as well as Far East champion. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)

OSAN AIR BASE, South Korea – Though rarely pushed during her run to an unbeaten regular and postseason, Chloe Lee said she didn’t take her stellar tennis record for granted.

The Humphreys junior capped her spotless season by capturing her second straight Korean-American Interscholastic Activities Conference girls singles tournament title Friday. She beat Clara Oh of Korea International 4-0, 4-1 in the championship at Osan’s rooftop tennis courts.

The victory came two weeks after Lee won both the Division I and overall singles titles in the DODEA-Pacific Far East tournament for the second straight year as well.

“I told myself that I had won Far East overall and D-I, I won KAIAC and Far East last year; I thought of all the moments that I went hard, to go out and do it again. And I did,” Lee said.

Her victory capped a day of dominance by the Blackhawks, who won all three girls singles and both doubles divisions. Two Humphreys boys players won singles titles and one Humphreys doubles pair won its division, giving Humphreys eight of 10 total division titles.

“Good group of players,” Blackhawks second-year coach Marco Valdez said, also giving credit to his assistant coach Kathleen White. “The players are eager to learn and they are very, very coachable, well rounded, they have a lot of tools, a lot of weapons.”

Nathan Hwang hits the ball.

Humphreys' Nathan Hwang smashes a forehand. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)

Skylar Park connects.

Humphreys' Skylar Park delivers a forehand. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)

Teammates celebrate with Nathan Hwang.

Humphreys teammates surround boys first-division singles champion Nathan Hwang. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)

William Cornett hits a backhand.

Humphreys' William Cornett smacks a two-handed backhand. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)

Mina Chang hits a backhand.

Humphreys' Mina Chang smacks a two-handed backhand. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)

A new face to the victory roundtable was sophomore Mina Chang, who won the girls third-division singles title 4-0, 2-4, 14-12 over Stine Meessen of Korea International.

Skylar Park completed the girls singles sweep, taking the second-division title by downing KIS’ Elizabeth Oh 1-4, 4-2, 10-2.

“I really appreciate this opportunity during my freshman year,” Park said. She teamed with Lee to win the Far East D-I and overall doubles titles two weeks ago.

Rebecca Kruelski and Ellee Yoo of Humphreys teamed to win the girls first-division doubles, while the Blackhawks’ Olivia Ruffo and Brianna Rivera took the second-division doubles. Each won in straight sets.

Humphreys’ Nathan Hwang and William Cornett won the top two divisions in boys singles, but both had to fight off determined efforts by their opponents.

Hwang outlasted Chan Kim of Gyeonggi Suwon 4-3 (7-5), 2-4, 10-7, while Cornett also needed a third-set tiebreak to finally take down Andy Park of KIS 4-2, 1-4, 10-8.

“Harsh,” Cornett said. “It took a lot of effort. It was one of those things that wasn’t going to be given to you. You had to work for it.”

Humphreys first-division doubles pair of Julian Cho and Jonathan Kim had less of a struggle in downing Eden Hwang and Jooho Sung of GSIS in straight sets.

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Dave Ornauer has been employed by or assigned to Stars and Stripes Pacific almost continuously since March 5, 1981. He covers interservice and high school sports at DODEA-Pacific schools and manages the Pacific Storm Tracker.

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