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Girls Tennis: Up-and-coming foursome ready to play

By Jeff Klein, Columbian sports staff

Published: March 18, 2019, 3:54pm

Mountain View’s Shreya Bhatra, Prairie’s Emma Tuttle, Camas’ Natalie Dunnam, and Columbia River’s Piper Rylander are all friends, sophomores and singles players for their respective varsity tennis teams entering the 2019 season. (Jeff Klein/The Columbian)

Four friends.

From four different schools.

Each of them young tennis players.

And they all want to win. Just beating each other is part of the fun.

The next generation of high school girls tennis in Clark County is coming on strong, represented by, among others, junior Shreya Bhatra of Mountain View, sophomore Natalie Dunnam of Camas, sophomore Piper Rylander of Columbia River, and sophomore Emma Tuttle of Prairie.

This group of friends met through tennis by taking lessons or playing on teams. They all burst on to the prep scene as freshmen: Bhatra qualified for the 3A state tournament and was first-team 3A Greater St. Helens League in singles, Tuttle was also named first-team 3A GSHL in singles, Rylander was runner-up at the 2A district tournament in singles, and Dunnam was a second team 4A GSHL singles player.

Yeah, they each like playing singles.

“Doubles is fun, but singles is just … better, if that makes sense,” Rylander said.

Ask them which one will eventually win a district title, fingers point in all directions.

“I think we will all win a district title,” proclaims Tuttle, who then points to league opponent Bhatra and says, “Hey, it’s going to be either me or you.”

Rylander said of the four girls, she and Dunnam have probably known each other the longest. They met playing at Vancouver Tennis Center at age 9 or 10.

“We all took lessons together and played team tennis together,” Dunnam said.

Another common thread is VTC head pro Sanja Lemes.

“I think we all bonded through Sanja’s class,” Tuttle said.

Lemes said she created a group just for the four of them after teaching them in a large group setting.

“We bonded right away,” Lemes said. “Their levels are close, but they all have their individual strengths. Emma is the scrambler, fighting for every point. Piper and Shreya are perfectionists, always analyzing their strokes. Natalie is a mix of the perfectionist and the scrambler.”

Yes, they all want to win and if it’s through a friend, well, that’s just tennis.

“I want to beat all of you!” Tuttle says, drawing laughter.

“So do I, but I don’t feel as pressured,” Bhatra said.

“I played Emma at a tournament recently,” Rylander said. “She beat me, so …”

As Dunnam put it, they know each other’s style of play very well “so we have more fun playing the points.”

But how bad do they want to beat each other?

“Bad,” says Rylander.

“Really bad,” added Tuttle.

“I want to win too,” Dunnam said.

Bhatra caps it off with: “We are all naturally competitive.”

Storylines

• Many top players from 2018 graduated, however big turnouts for all are programs shows that Clark County will continue to be a force in girls tennis.

• Columbia River senior Faith Grisham is a three-time state qualifier and placed third at 2A state last year, losing only to the eventual four-time state champion.

• Usual suspects at 4A? Union, Camas, Skyview? Camas posted an undefeated season last year and still has a lot of young talent. Union has the lone returning state qualifier from the trio in Nicole Knudtson, a senior who reached the quarterfinals in doubles. Skyview senior Marissa Hunter placed third at district.

• Mountain View’s Sheyra Bhatra is the only returning state qualifier from 3A GSHL. She was runner-up at district, fifth at bi-district, but ran into the eventual four-time state champ in first round of state.

Storylines

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