Othello Girl's doubles place among the Top 10 at State
Rodney Harwood/Hagadone Newspaper Group - Tanaya Anderson, pictured here during the regular season, and her partner Katie Walker have been together four years. The work paid off with an eighth place at the 2A state tennis championships.
SEATTLE — Othello seniors Tanaya Anderson and Katie Walker had been working for this momentum for the past 12 months.
They went to tennis camps during the summer, spent extra time after practice pounding serves and working on their teamwork to prove they could hit with the westside girls in the elite field at the 2A state tennis championships.
They wrapped up their high school tennis careers with an eighth-place finish, winning two matches and losing two at the Nordstrom Tennis Center at the University of Washington.
Walker and Anderson fell 6-0, 6-1 to Nicole Howard and Mikayla Kee of Tumwater in the fifth-place match to finish their remarkable run.
The Othello seniors, who have been partners for the past four years, had to win a 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (7-5) crossover match just to get to the 2A elite field. They made the best of their tournament draw on May 26 after losing their tournament opener 6-3, 6-2 to Centralia’s Ellie Corwin and Hannah Jeffries. They came back with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Stella Fosberg and Chloe Watson of Highline in the first match of the consolation bracket. Walker and Anderson also beat Jessica Dietzman and Hannah D’Amico from Sequim in straight sets, 7-5, 6-2 to advance and wrap up their high school tennis careers.
Boy’s doubles
The Othello No. 1 doubles team of Collin Freeman and Kyler Villarreal never did figure out and answer for East Valley’s Aidan Fallstrom and Jask Khinda.
The boy’s went at it in a three-hour, three-set slugfest for the District 5-6 before the Red Devils pair won. On May 26 at the 2A state tennis championships, the two CWAC powerhouse teams got after it one more time in the consolation bracket. Fallstrom and Khinda beat Freeman and Villarreal, who lost just two matches during the regular season, 6-2, 6-4 to eliminate the Othello tandem.
Freeman and Villarreal dropped their tournament opener to Darren Ma and William Zhang of Sehome 6-4, 6-1. But they made their way through the consolation bracket with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Tumwater’s Weston Weller and Carl Myers to set up another run at the East Valley top doubles team.
Girls’ singles
Othello’s Zoee Roylance fell 6-0, 6-0 to Danya Wallis of North Kitsap in the opener and then lost to Rachel Wilkerson from Centralia, 6-1, 6-1 to wrap up her season.
2A state champions
Girls’ singles: Danya Wallis, North Kitsap, d. Tessa Tapmongkol, Sehome, 6-0, 6-2
Girls’ doubles: Sophia Lawrence/Alice Hiebert, Bellingham, d. Ellie Iwersen/Keara Kintzele, Bellingham, 6-1, 6-0.
Boys’ singles: Tye Loan, Olympic, d. Shane Lynette, Sehome, 6-2, 6-0
Boys’ doubles: Gregory Arthur/Don Arsenev, Clarkston, d. Darren Ma/William Zhang, Sehome, 7-5, 2-6, 6-4.