Chelan Tennis Plays Day Two of CTL Championships

In girls singles, Arden Paglia’s first match of the day was the championship match vs Faith Kert of Cashmere.  In today’s match, Arden had her best results of the season vs last year’s 1A doubles champion, but came up short.  That forced Arden to play the winner of the consolation bracket (3rd place) in order to defend her 2nd place finish, because the two had not previously played in the tournament.  In that match, Arden defeated Zienna Erickson of Cascade 6-2, 6-2 to maintain her #2 seed.  Paglia will travel to Spokane on Saturday, May 20 for a winner to state – loser out crossover match vs an NEA opponent (NEA is the Spokane area 1A league).

The CTL girls doubles bracket was dominated by Chelan, but with only two entries moving on to the NEA crossover next weekend, a lot of “friendly fire” resulted.  First, Chelan’s Ellie McLemore and Josie Garfoot won their consolation semifinal 6-1, 6-1 over Lassila/O’Neil of Omak, while Chelan teammates Piper Grossberg and Maya Cowan also won their consolation semifinal over Hansch/Seidensticker of Cashmere 6-2, 6-0.  Those two wins forced a Chelan vs Chelan matchup in the consolation final, which Grossberg and Cowan won by a narrow margin 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.  That put Grossberg/Cowan in 3rd and McLemore/Garfoot in 4th with only the top 2 moving on to the NEA crossover.  Meanwhile, Chelan’s Liv Strandberg and Caelan Rothlisberger were in the championship match vs Richter/Sackman of Omak.  Unfortunately, Strandberg and Rothlisberger lost the tightest of matches 6-7, 6-7 to take 2nd.  Plot twist:  since only two entries move on and Strandberg/Rothlisberger had not yet played Grossberg/Cowan, that forced a 2nd vs 3rd match similar to Arden’s match in singles.  That match also turned out to be a long close win, with Grossberg and Cowan prevailing 6-1, 1-6, 6-3.  So, Piper Grossberg and Maya Cowan will also be traveling to Spokane next Saturday for that same winner to state – loser out match vs an NEA doubles team.  Strandberg and Rothlisberger will be alternates.  In the end, Chelan took 3 out of the top 4 placements in the girls doubles bracket – quite an accomplishment!

In boys singles, Co-CTL Player of the Year Rylen Moody won his semifinal match 6-0, 6-3 over Noah Rose of Omak, which placed Moody in the championship vs Charlie Lyons of Cascade.  However, after dropping the first set to Lyons narrowly in a tiebreaker 5-7, Moody lost the 2nd set 2-6 to finish in 2nd place.  Teammate Cray Silva began the day attempting to fight his way through the consolation bracket, first by defeating Robert Bensch of Quincy 7-6, 6-2.  That put Cray up against Rose of Omak who moved to the consolation bracket after losing to Moody.  Cray won the 1st set 7-5, and was up 1-0 in the 2nd when Rose retired from the match.  In addition, Silva was awarded 3rd place in his next match because opponent JJ Groner of Cashmere had an injury default.  So, Rylen Moody will enter this week’s district tournament as the #2 seed, and Silva as the #3 seed.

In boys doubles, unfortunately there was more Chelan vs Chelan friendly fire.  Luke Christopherson and Sam Bordner opened the morning in the semifinals, but fell to the eventual champions Kirk/Sackman of Omak 6-2, 6-3.  At that same time, teammates Tristan and Wade Sanderson were eeking out a match in the consolation bracket vs Johnson/Peterson of Cascade 6-7, 7-6, 6-4.  So, that put Christopherson/Bordner up against the Sandersons in a loser out – winner to districts matchup, which Bordner and Christopherson narrowly won 7-5, 6-4.  That put Luke and Sam in the consolation final for 3rd/4th, but their opponents also injury defaulted, so Luke and Sam will enter the district tournament as #3 seeds.  Tristan and Wade also won their match for 5th/6th over Guerin/Lewis of Cashmere, so they’re the alternates to districts in the boys doubles bracket.

It’s exciting to have at least one Chelan entry still alive in each of the four postseason brackets – the only CTL school to do so!