Chelan Tennis Results at CTL Tournament on Thursday and Saturday

Goats have good showing — advancing several to regional crossover matches with winner to State

information submitted by Coach Rothlisberger

All the CTL schools traveled to Quincy for the CTL Tournament on Thursday, May 9 and Saturday, May 11. This was the first of three layers of the postseason. For the boys, it acts as the qualifier for next week’s District 6 Tournament where the 1A boys pool with the Bs. For the girls, it acts as the District 6 Tournament and is the qualifier for next weekend’s regional crossover matches versus the Spokane area NEA.

Conditions were difficult in the heat. Temperatures were likely triple digits on the asphalt courts, so those long close matches were very draining. Athletes were sapped as they played their 2nd and 3rd matches of the day. Nevertheless, half of Chelan’s entries advanced to the next level!

In girls singles, senior and tournament #2 seed Maya Cowan had a first round bye on Thursday, won her quarterfinal 6-0, 6-0 over Grace McDevitt of Cascade, and finished Thursday with a 6-3, 6-1 semifinal victory over Freya Dronen of Cashmere. In the championship match on Saturday vs CTL Player of the Year Faith Kert of Cashmere, Maya came up short, and in a bizarre turn of events was forced to play Cashmere’s Dronen again shortly thereafter. Maya won the replay 6-2, 6-0 to cement 2nd place.

Junior Taylor Hatherell fell just short in her single elimination preliminary match against Caia Williams of Quincy, 6-3, 7-5.  With the graduation of the top 3 players on the Chelan ladder, Taylor will play a key role on our 2025 squad.

In girls doubles, seniors and tournament #2 seeds Ellie McLemore and Josie Garfoot also received an opening round bye on Thursday. The pair won their quarterfinal round 6-0, 6-1 over teammates Alison Horner and Madeline Cowan, and finished Thursday with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Westlund/Ray of Cashmere. In Saturday’s championship against Sackman/Richter of Omak, Ellie and Josie came up just short 0-6, 7-5, 6-2. Once again, in bizarre fashion, Ellie and Josie were forced to replay their match vs Westlund/Ray of Cashmere, gutting it out to win in 3 sets and finish 2nd.

Freshmen tandem Alison Horner and Madeline Cowan survived their do-or-die preliminary 6-3, 6-2 against Fish/Warmuth of Cascade, but as stated lost to Chelan’s McLemore/Garfoot in the quarterfinal. Horner and Cowan finished their season by coming up short against Cashmere in their 3rd match of the day. Fortunately Horner and Cowan grew by leaps and bounds in their rookie season and have three strong years ahead of them.

Chelan’s third doubles team of freshman Josie Bekel and junior Kyla Otom came up short in their opening round preliminary match versus Cascade, but return in 2025 as key contributors as well!

In boys singles, senior and repeat CTL Player of the Year Rylen Moody had a first round bye and finished Thursday with a 6-2, 6-1 quarterfinal win against Reed Lewis of Cashmere. Saturday began with Rylen defeating Mason Stenberg of Omak 6-2, 6-0 in the semifinals, and finished with Rylen winning the championship 6-1, 6-0 over Albin Eskew of Cashmere. Dominant tournament by Rylen!

Senior George Neff won his preliminary opener 6-0, 6-0 over Quincy’s Dreyk Lopez-Humphries, but finished Thursday with a well fought 6-2, 6-3 loss to #2 seed Albin Eskew of Cashmere. On Saturday, George needed to win two in a row to stay alive and did just that: 6-2, 6-3 over Robert Bensch of Quincy and 6-3, 6-4 over Mason Stenberg of Omak. In the match for 3rd/4th, Neff lost to Charlie Lyons of Cascade 6-1, 6-3 to finish 4th.

In boys doubles, senior #4 seeds Ian Garfoot and Cray Silva won their opening preliminary match 6-0, 6-0 and finished Thursday with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over the Rose brothers of Omak. In Saturday’s semifinal, Garfoot and Silva fell to Cascade’s Bard/Knutson 6-3, 6-4, which unfortunately pitted them vs teammates Wade and Tristan Sanderson. That Chelan vs Chelan match was both terrible and impressive: impressive because it was so close and such good tennis, but terrible because it ended Wade and Tristan’s playoff run. Ian and Cray came away with a narrow 6-7, 6-3, 7-5 victory to stay alive in the tourney, and followed that up with an impressive 6-1, 6-4 victory over Cascade’s Johnson and Peterson to finish 3rd.

Brothers Wade (10th) and Tristan (11th) Sanderson entered as the #3 seed and had a bye, but lost their Thursday quarterfinal to Johnson and Peterson of Cascade in three sets 1-6, 6-4, 6-3. In Saturday’s first match, they stayed alive with a 6-0, 6-3 win over Alvarez/Torres of Quincy. Unfortunately they were eliminated by teammates Ian and Cray in the aforementioned match. Excited to have Wade and Tristan returning next year as two of the top boys in the CTL.

Cousins Caleb (12th) and Owen (8th) Sanderson needed to win their preliminary match to stay alive, but lost a heartbreaker to Cashmere 7-5, 3-6, 7-6. Caleb was a big part of this season’s 3rd consecutive CTL title, and Owen has four bright years ahead of him!