Tiger tennis second, third in Yakima
Bianca Schley will face Quinn Osborn from Lindbergh High School in the first round of the state tournament Friday at the Nordstromm Tennis Center on the University of Washington campus.
The Tigers Hunter Sears matches up with Jonathan Yu from Washington High School Friday in round one.
YAKIMA - Bianca Schley was crowned Regional 5/6/7 singles champion, and Hunter Sears finished runner up in the boys singles final match Saturday. The two will represent Ephrata at the WIAA State Tournament at the Nordstrom Tennis Center in Seattle May 26 and 26.
Schley is the No. 1 girls single seed from region 5/6/7. Sears is the No. 2 boys seed.
"We had a good day of tennis," coach Missy Beierman said. "Bianca played well from the start, and Hunter took care of business pretty quickly in his first match."
Schley was the No. 1 district seed heading into the tournament. She beat her first round opponent Alexia Botello from Wapato 6-1, 7-6 (7-2), then defeated Stephanie Her from Pullman 6-4, 6-3 to move into the final round. Schely matched up with Hannah Adams from Pullman and turned her back in two sets 6-4, 6-0 to claim top honors and the No. 1 seed in the state tournament.
"Bianca got a good draw being the No. 1 seed going in, coach Missy Beierman said. "But, nonetheless, she had some pretty good ground strokes and a solid forehand all day. But after playing three matches, she was pretty tired."
Sears, Beierman said, had an easy time with his first opponent. But, turned in a gritty performance to earn the No. 2 seed over his next two matches as he was battling a couple of fierce competitors as well as some hydration issues.
"Hunter played a great semifinal match against Ryan Adams from Clarkston," Beierman said. "There were a lot of long rallies and not many point mistakes. It was fun to watch. But he started to cramp up in the second set. He really had problems with cramps in the finals match."
Beierman said Sears was hydrating well, and attributed the cramping to his body not being used to playing three consecutive matches.
"I felt bad for him," she said. "He couldn't play his best tennis in the championship round."
Sears turned back Amrit Khinda from East Valley 6-2, 6-2 in round one, beat Ryan Adams from Clarkston 6-3, 7-5, then lost to Drew Adams from Clarkston 6-3, 6-2 in the final round.
The Tigers Michael Bosnar lost his first round singles match to Ryan Adams and dropped down to the consolation bracket.
He lost his second round match to Khinda and was eliminated from the competition.
The Ephrata boys finished with a team score of five points. Clarkston was first with nine, Medical Lake took second with eight The Tigers tied for third with West Valley of Spokane.
The girls had a team score of six points to tie for second with Clarkston. Pullman was first with 10. Othello finished tied for fourth with two.
The Huskies girls doubles Jocelyn and Yanitta Cantu lost their first match, but came back through the consolation bracket to claim the fifth and final seed to the state tournament.