4A state tennis tournament notes
Clark County schools sent seven entries to the Class 4A state tennis tournament at the Vancouver Tennis Center, and all seven entries survived to play on Saturday.
And they were excited about it.
“I’ve been to state twice before but never made it to the second day, so this is exciting,” said Skyview senior Brittany Ellingsen, who advanced to the girls doubles semifinals with partner Anna Romanovsky.
“And I’ve never been to state,” Romanovsky added.
Ellingsen, a two-time district singles champion, reached state in singles as a freshman and sophomore before falling short in the bi-district as a junior.
But Ellingsen and Romanovsky found success in doubles, even after a loss in last week’s bi-district tournament gave them a difficult first-round draw on Friday at state.
“I think pride got to us today,” Romanovsky said of the pair’s two wins at state. “We knew that we could play better than we did last week.”
In all, Clark County had three entries reach the state semifinals as Ellingsen and Romanovsky was joined by Union’s Jelena Vidovic (girls singles) and Union’s Tommy Foster and Connor Horne (boys doubles).
Ellingsen and Romanovsky will meet Sierra Southworth and Maddie Turek of Tahoma; Vidovic will play Kamiak’s Elaine Baik; and Foster and Horne will meet Olympia’s Hunter Wood and John Stormans.
Two other entries are in the fourth-place semifinals: Skyview’s Kent Andreasen will face Gonzaga Prep’s Alex Marcinkowski in boys singles; Union’s Jacob Buckley and Mark Bright, who lost to teammates Foster and Horne in the quarterfinals, will meet Richland’s Travis Zuroske and Josh Luo.
And two more entries reached the fifth-place semifinals: Battle Ground’s Kylee Tyler-Breimon will face Lauren Thornquist of Auburn in girls singles; Skyview’s Tara Carrie and Kristina Metz will meet Walla Walla’s Tianna Cummings and Claire Konen in girls doubles.
District 1 is tough — Last week when Kamiak’s Elaine Baik beat Stanwood’s Megan Lalone in the District 1 singles final, some thought that could be a preview for the state championship match.
Both players stayed on course for such a matchup. Lalone, who routed Battle Ground’s Kylee Tyler-Breimon 6-1, 6-2 in the opening round, will face Angela Chen of Newport in one semifinal, while Baik will meet Union’s Jelena Vidovic in the other.
“I’ve seen (Baik) at tournaments, but I’ve never played her,” Vidovic said. “I don’t know much about her. So I’m just going to play my game and see what happens.”
Well, if you connect the scores, it should be a tough match for Vidovic.
Baik beat Lalone 6-4, 1-6, 6-2 for the district title last week; Lalone routed Tyler-Breimon 6-1, 6-2 Friday; Tyler-Breimon beat Vidovic for both the District 4 title two weeks ago and the bi-district title last week.
Possible rematch — Skyview’s Ellingsen and Romanovsky would love another matchup with Tess Manthou and Eliana Spero of Kentwood.
Well, for one that’s because both doubles teams are playing in opposite state semifinal matches, so a rematch could come in the state title match.
But also it was Manthou and Spero who beat Ellingsen and Romanovsky in the bi-district tournament last week 6-1, 2-6, 7-6.
To get there, the Skyview team must beat Southworth and Turek of Tahoma, the team that Manthou and Spero beat for the bi-district title last week.
Crowning a new champion in boys singles — The battle to become the first 4A boys singles champion not named Max Manthou in the past four years has come down to four contestants.
The most unlikely semifinalist may be Brian Pinkard of Puyallup. Pinkard reached the state semifinals Friday after losing in the first round of the bi-district tournament last week and rallying back into state through the consolation bracket.
Pinkard will play Federal Way freshman Mitch Stewart, last week’s bi-district champion, in one semifinal. The other semifinal will feature Hudson Barnhart of Wenatchee and Michael Chamerski of Jackson.
Doubles vision — The Class 4A boys doubles state semifinals are a carbon copy of last week’s West Central/Southwest bi-district tournament in Spanaway.
In one semifinal, Olympia’s Hunter Wood and John Stormans will face Union’s Tommy Foster and Connor Horne. In the other, Bellarmine Prep’s Spencer Heron and Keenan Dolan will meet Thomas Jefferson’s Makoa and Kainoa Rosa.
Last week, Wood and Stormans beat Foster and Horne 6-2, 6-2, and Heron and Dolan beat Rosa and Rosa 4-6, 6-2, 6-3. In the final, Wood and Stormans beat Heron and Dolan 6-3, 6-2, while Rosa and Rosa beating Foster and Horne for third place 6-3, 6-4.
Rain schedule — Play continues today at the Vancouver Tennis Center with consolation and fourth-place singles semifinals at 8 a.m.; consolation and fourth-place doubles semifinals at 9:30 a.m.; all championship semifinals at 11 a.m.; the fourth-place and championship finals at 12:30 p.m. and all championship finals at 2 p.m.
The schedule is an estimated one, with the next round of matches starting as soon as the early round of matches have been completed and courts become available.
