WAIPAHU — Yesterday's finals of the U.S. Tennis Association/Aloha Airlines Junior Sectionals produced a flurry of upsets and split sets. Ideally, they were born of balance. Surely, they were fanned by familiarity.

Top seeds won less than half the titles at the Central O'ahu Regional Park Tennis Center. Of the top-seeded champions, only Skyler Tateishi's 6-3, 6-1 victory over third-seeded Matthew Tavares in Boys 18s came in straight sets. Even then, the reigning boys state high school champion nearly saw more of Tavares' slicing, dicing, lobbing style than he wanted.

"A couple more games and I'd have been dead," Tateishi said with a grin.

Tateishi just graduated from Punahou and is headed to Washington, where he will join the Big Island's Holden Chang on a tennis scholarship. There he might see more of Tavares' grinding, no-pace persistence.

But here, in an isolated junior tennis world where everybody knows your name, Tavares, who will be a senior at McKinley, is unique. His slices forced Tateishi to stay low, his drop shots forced the big guy to run like a little guy — which he did, exceptionally well — and his touch on lobs made Tateishi hesitate before charging the net.

Tateishi persevered and used his big serve to keep Tavares, who took out the second seed in two tiebreakers Sunday, on the defensive.

"Hawai'i is small and there's such a variety of styles of play, but I've never actually run across a player that plays like Matt does, as well as he does," Tateishi said. "I'm sure in the future I'll run across somebody that plays like him.

"It's very difficult playing against him because you're not used to seeing that. The ball bounces differently. It's tough but he's a great player. He fits that game perfectly. I never really could fully predict what was going to happen. I just tried to move my feet as much as I can."

Tavares is a rarity here. Most juniors know opponents' games as well as their own. Aside from a few trips, and the nationals now played here in February, they seem to play each other on a rotation. Names are the same, but results can vary radically.

Tateishi, now done with juniors, will focus on conditioning and playing as many matches as possible before he heads to Seattle. Most of the other juniors have a summer-full of tournaments facing them — locally and nationally — highlighted by the Intersectional and Zonal team events on the Mainland.

Larson Oliva and Erik Pang, who played for the Boys 16 title yesterday, will travel together to Louisiana and Utah. Yesterday was their fourth match this year. They are now 2-2, with all four going the distance.

Oliva, a Pearl City junior, upset top-seeded Matthew Westmoreland — who fell to Tateishi in the state high school final — in Sunday's semifinals. The third seed, who is hoping to play for Hawai'i in college, then outlasted fourth-seeded Pang, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. Pang, a Punahou sophomore, upset second-seeded Carter Lam in a straight-set semifinal.

After losing the first set, Oliva slowed the pace down with Pang, "trying to loop it in more." It worked ... barely. The match was so tight Oliva focused solely on the "next point" in the final minutes, and needed his mother to tell him he had four match points before finishing off Pang.

Third-seeded Chas Okamoto, from Kaua'i, concluded his march to the Boys 14 title with a 6-2, 6-3 upset of top-seeded William Chen. Boys 12s also featured a surprise, with second-seeded Zandrix Acob outlasting top-seeded Marcel Chan, 9-7, in a first-set tiebreaker, then taking the second set 6-1. Acob had lost just two games, and Chan six, coming into the match.

All four girls' finals went three sets, with the longest coming in the youngest age division. Top-seeded Katie Kim needed more than 3 hours to hold off second-seeded Kristen Poei, 6-4, 4-6, 7-5, in the 12s. Top-seeded Jackie Owens bounced back for a 6-1, 2-6, 6-0 win over second-seeded Lyndsey Tom in the 16s.

Second seeds won the other two girls' finals. Karlene Pang dropped the first set but came back to upset top-seeded Ceara Sumida, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1, in the 14s. Mel Viriyapunt also lost the first set, to fourth-seeded Nicole Nakaoka, but lost just three games in the final two sets to take the 18s with a 2-6, 6-2, 6-1 victory.

Viriyapunt started high school at Leilehua, but spent the last year at Turner in Dallas and attended Brook Haven Tennis Academy. Nakaoka upset top-seeded Punahou teammate Kristin Lim in straight sets in the semifinals. Lim won the state high school singles championship last month and Nakaoka teamed with Ashley Ohira to capture doubles.

YESTERDAY'S RESULTS

BOYS

18

Championship—Skyler Tateishi (1) def. Matthew Tavares (3) 6-3, 6-1. Playoff—Kevin Caulfield def. Keven Wong (2), 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. Consolation—Semifinal: Nathan Nakatsuka def. Reid Kiyabu (4), 6-1, 6-1; Brandon Sera def. Luke Young, 6-0, 6-2. Final: Nakatsuka def. Sera, 1-6, 6-1, 6-0.

16

Championship—Larson Oliva (3) def. Erik Pang (4) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. Playoff—Carter Lam (2) def. Matthew Westmoreland (1), 6-2, 6-2. Consolation—Semifinal: Douglas Ho (5) def. Robin Kiyabu, 6-4, 6-3; Joshua Wong (7) def. Joshua Kakugawa (6), 5-7, 6-4, 6-2. Final: Ho def. Wong, 6-3, 6-3.

14

Championship—Chas Okamoto (3) def. William Chen (1) 6-2, 6-3. Playoff—Travis Yoshimoto def. Marco Kobayashi, 7-6, (9), 4-6, 7-5. Consolation—Semifinal: Shaun Chow (4) def. Darin Poei, 6-2, 6-4; Kallen Mizuguchi def. Colby Ing, 7-5, 6-4. Final: Chow def. Mizuguchi, 6-2, 6-1.

12

Championship—Zandrix Acob (2) def. Marcel Chan (1) 7-6 (9-7), 6-1. Playoff—Matt Perez (4) def. Jevin Ching, 6-1, 6-3. Consolation—Semifinal: Steven Chen (3) def. Jack Thibault, 6-3, 6-2; Ryan Adachi def. Nicholas Kim, 7-6 (4), 6-3. Final: Chen def. Adachi, 6-1, 6-4.

GIRLS

18

Championship—Mel Viriyapunt (2) def. Nicole Nakaoka (4) 2-6, 6-2, 6-1. Playoff—Kristin Lim (1) def. Jill Kappel (3), 6-3, 6-1. Consolation—Semifinal: Kelsey Daguio def. Megan Yoshimoto, 6-3, 6-4; Kelleen Sera def. Kaitlan Sera, 6-3, 6-4. Final: Daguio def. Sera, 7-6 (9), 6-4.

16

Championship—Jackie Owens (1) def. Lyndsey Tom (2) 6-1, 2-6, 6-0. Playoff—Allison Chen (4) def. Sherise Lum (6), 6-2, 6-3. Consolation—Semifinal: Jan Matsumoto (3) def. Nikki Wo Castel (injury); Sayo Tsukamoto def. Kiana Nip (8), 6-1, 6-1. Final: Matsumoto def. Tsukamoto, 2-6, 6-4, 6-3.

14

Championship—Karlene Pang (2) def. Ceara Sumida (1) 4-6, 6-4, 6-1. Playoff—Sarah Kukino (3) def. Tamitha Nguyen, 6-2, 6-3. Consolation—Semifinal: Andrea Baysa def. Kauwela Neal, 6-2, 6-3; Bobbi Oshiro (4) def. Kristen Nakamura, 7-5, 6-1. Final: Oshiro def. Baysa, 6-1, 6-2.

12

Championship—Katie Kim (1) def. Kristen Poei (2) 6-4, 4-6, 7-5. Playoff—Tayler Duarte (4) def. Kara Okazaki (3), 1-0 retired (injury). Consolation—Semifinal: Sarah Dvorak def. Katherine Lee, 2-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4; Alyssa Tobita def. Courtney Schulte, 6-3, 6-4. Final: Dvorak def. Tobita, 2-6, 6-3, 7-5.

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com.