WAIPAHU — With a day still left at the Carlsmith Ball State High School Tennis Championships, Punahou has clinched both titles, Kristin Lim is pushing the envelope of perfection, Kevin Caulfield and Jackie Owens for tenacity, and Jared Spiker's tournament debut remains a roaring success.

The Buffanblu girls actually secured their seventh straight championship Thursday. The boys clinched it yesterday morning in doubles quarterfinals at Patsy T. Mink CORP Tennis Complex, beating 'Iolani three times.

If the Raiders had won all three, they would have captured their first boys' title since 1971, and prevented Punahou from tying Edgewood's (Colo.) national record for consecutive state tennis championships. Michael Gearen guided the Buffanblu to the first two, Punahou director of tennis Bernard Gusman the next one and Rusty Komori has been in charge of the last 16 winning teams.

"We can do it because we take no one for granted," said Komori, who has just two seniors. "It's a constant striving for excellence and make sure we're able to peak at the right times."

One senior is Caulfield, who upset top-seeded ILH champion Matthew Westmoreland, of Island Pacific Academy, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 in a 3-hour semifinal yesterday. Caulfield, seeded fourth, finished fourth in the state his first two years and fell to St. Joseph exchange student (and 2008 state champion) Fernando Aguirregomezcorta in last year's quarterfinals.

Since then Caulfield has "left nothing to chance so I don't have any regrets." He put on 10 pounds of muscle, devoting himself in the weight room and on training runs around Diamond Head. He and Westmoreland both needed medical treatment for cramps yesterday, but both fought through.

The other boys semifinal was very different. Seventh-seeded Josh Wong from Hilo, the only seed outside the top four to break into semifinals, blew to a 5-1 advantage over Spiker. The Kalani junior took a breath and won the final 12 games for a 7-5, 6-0 victory.

Lim, heading to Cornell in August, had not lost a game going into her semifinal against Kealakehe junior Sayo Tsukamoto, who she beat in last year's semifinal. Tsukamoto ended Lim's shutout, but fell 6-1, 6-2.

Lim will go for her fourth state title — third in singles — today against Owens at 8:30 a.m. Owens, a Lahainaluna senior headed to Washington State, stopped fourth-seeded Mari Tadaki of Hawai'i Baptist, 6-2, 6-3.

YESTERDAY'S RESULTS

BOYS

Singles semifinals: (4) Kevin Caulfield (Punahou) def. (1) Matthew Westmoreland (Island Pacific Academy) 6-3, 4-6, 6-3; (2) Jared Spiker (Kalani) def. (7) Josh Wong (Hilo) 7-5, 6-0. Singles quarterfinals: Westmoreland def. (8) Marco Kobayashi ('Iolani) 6-3, 6-0; Caulfield def. (5) Kaimalu Cope (Kealakehe) 7-6 (7), 6-2; Wong def. (10) Robin Kiyabu (Punahou) 6-3, 2-6, 6-4; Spiker def. (6) Larson Oliva (Pearl City) 6-4, 6-2.

Doubles semifinals: (1) Erik Pang/Hiroshi Hikida (Punahou) def. (3) Shaun Chow/Paul Okuda (Punahou) 6-3, 7-6 (5); (2) Kyle Shiroma/Brent Hashiba ('Iolani) def. (4) William Chen/Brandon Lee (Punahou) 6-4, 6-3. Doubles quarterfinals: Pang/Hikida def. (5) Spencer Choy/Devin Anderson ('Iolani) 6-3, 6-3; Chow/Okuda def. (7) Robert Tamai/Colin Tseng ('Iolani) 6-2, 6-3; Chen/Lee def. (8) Logan Chun/Darin Poei ('Iolani) 6-3, 7-6 (8); Shiroma/Hashiba def. (6) Nicholas Lee/Cody Lau (Kalani) 6-1, 6-2.

GIRLS

Singles semifinals: (1) Kristin Lim (Punahou) def. (3) Sayo Tsukamoto (Kealakehe) 6-1, 6-2;' (2) Jackie Owens (Lahainaluna) def. (4) Mari Tadaki (Hawai'i Baptist) 6-2, 6-3. Singles quarterfinals: Lim def. (5) Sherise Lum (Punahou) 6-0, 6-0; Tsukamoto def. (9) Karlene Pang (Hawai'i Baptist) 6-0, 6-0; Tadaki def. (6) Sarah Kukino (Kaua'i) 6-0, 6-3; Owens def. (7) Lyndsey Tom (Kapa'a) 6-3, 6-0. Doubles semifinals: (1) Ashley Nakaoka/Jennifer Laws (Punahou) def. (3) Kelly Domingo/Kelsey Daguio (Sacred Hearts) 4-6, 6-2, 6-2; (2) Nikki Castel/Bobbi Oshiro ('Iolani) def. (4) Adrienne Hamada/Kimberly Takara (Mililani) 6-4, 6-3. Double quarterfinals: Nakaoka/Laws def. Britney Ragunton/Sarah Steele (Punahou) 6-2, 6-1; Domingo/Daguio def. (8) Crystal Makaiwi/Sabryna Yates (Kealakehe) 6-4, 6-0; Hamada/Takara def. Kaity Yim/Kelsey Ann Yamanaka (Punahou) 6-3, 7-6 (5); Castel/Oshiro def. (5) Honesty Ho'opai/Morissa Kahakui (Kamehameha) 6-3, 6-3.