Skyview’s Kent Andreasen and Union’s Alex Wallace have been battling on tennis courts around Clark County for years.
So when the two players made the state singles finals in Class 4A (Andreasen) and 3A (Wallace) their sophomore years, it seemed only natural they would eventually face off for a state title when Union joined Skyview at 4A.
Well, it didn’t happen last season when Wallace took a hiatus from high school tennis. And it won’t happen this year, even with Wallace’s return to prep tennis.
But the next best thing will happen on Saturday.
Andreasen and Wallace will face off in a Class 4A state semifinal Saturday in Richland for the right to play for a state championship.
Andreasen swept to straight-set wins over Aman Manji of Skyline and Alex Marcinkowski of Gonzaga Prep to reach the semifinals. Wallace swept past Tom Geranios of Ferris, but needed three sets to beat Brian Pinkard of Puyallup.
And Andreasen and Wallace aren’t the only two 4A semifinalists from Clark County. Union’s Mark Bright and Connor Horne beat teammates Andrew Bagherpour and Jacob Buckley to reach the 4A doubles semifinals.
Bright and Horne will face Chris Lilly and Dylan Harlow of Newport in the semifinal match Saturday morning.
In the girls singles bracket, Skyview freshman Sammi Hampton beat Sarah Tuemmier of Marysville-Pilchuck and Chelsea Motzer of Mead to advance to the semifinals.
Union’s Jelena Vidovic beat Theresa Huong of Skyline and Leslie Ho of Central Valley to reach the semis and keep the possibility of an all-Clark County state final alive.
Hampton will face Sabrina Demerath of Inglemoor in the semifinal, while Vidovic will face Megan LaLone of Stanwood in the other.
Class 3A tennis — Prairie sisters Akari and Shiori Baba dropped just nine games in sweeping to a pair of wins to reach the state semifinals in doubles. They will face Acacia Dettman and Alex Sharpe of Hanford on Saturday for the right to play for the state title.
Camas’ Esther Kwon dropped her first match, but then won her next two to reach the consolation singles final, where she’ll meet Cello Lockwood of Holy Names.
Class 2A tennis — Two Hockinson entries remain alive for a medal at the Nordstrom Tennis Center in Seattle.
Michelle Chiou will face Hayley Newman of South Whidbey in the consolation semifinal on Saturday.
In doubles, Tiara Atchley and Jaymie Towne will meet Lindsey Wicklein and Erica Daniels of Kingston in the fourth-place semifinal.
TRACK AND FIELD
1B state — Seton Catholic’s Lucy Defilippis raced the 3,200 meters in 12 minutes, 3.24 seconds to capture the 1B state title. King’s Way Christian’s Emily Dick placed fifth.
King’s Way’s Harper Christian placed high in two events, coming in second in the high jump (5-0) and third in the long jump (15-5 3/4). Seton’s Brynna Freitag was fourth in the long jump. King’s Way athletes Callie Crawford was seventh in the shot put and Kalie Burton was seventh in the high jump.
In the boys meet, Tommy Defilippis placed fourth in 1,600 (4:49.78) and Evan Simms was seventh for Seton Catholic.
1A state — Stevenson’s Jen Rathgeber placed second in the girls long jump with a leap of 17-4 1/2. She also advanced to the finals in both hurdle races.
Ridgefield’s Raigan Page qualified for the finals in the 100, 200 and 400 meters, including a No. 2 qualifying time in the 400.
La Center’s Katie Hebdon placed third in the jump at 5-2.
On the boys side, Stevenson’s Alex McCrum placed fifth in the pole vault at 13-3 and teammate Brandon Campbell was seventh at 12-6.
Ridgefield’s Alex Olson was seventh in the discus.
