Eagles’ Ewing and Ortega on to districts

SOAP LAKE — The Soap Lake Eagles competed in their 1B league tournament over the weekend to decide which players would qualify for the district tournament. At the end of the competition, the Eagles are sending seniors Xavier Ewing and Francisco Ortega on to the district tournament. 

“I was pretty happy with everybody,” said Eagles Head Coach Lee Leavell. “It seemed like everybody really played hard and some advanced and some it just didn’t work out for (them).” 

Ewing had a strong showing at leagues as he earned a win over Liberty Bell’s Gavin Blank, who he had lost to in the state tournament last season but fell to Manson’s Ben Rasmusson in the finals. Overall, Ewing took second in the league tournament.  

When looking at district play, Leavell said Ewing has already guaranteed himself a spot at the state tournament due to seeding. 

“The worst he can get at districts is fourth and the top four go to state, so he’s guaranteed himself, but he still has to play to try and get a higher seed at state,” said the coach. 

Ortega entered the tournament as the fifth seed and battled his way through the bracket to earn wins over higher seeds to get all the way into the third/fourth-place game, which punched his ticket for districts. Ortega fell to Blank in the finals where he took fourth in league. 

The road to state will be a little more challenging for Ortega as he has to battle his way through the bracket and win a handful of games to qualify, said Leavell. 

Even though the remainder of the team got eliminated in the league tournament, the coach said he was proud of the performance that the players made as they worked through the bracket. 

One such performance came from the Eagle’s number one girls doubles team of Riley Frazier and Jade Lopez battled far into their bracket, going all the way into the final day of leagues after entering as a lower seed.  

Soap Lake’s number one boys doubles team of Jocsan Sanchez-Cruz and Jon Knapp who came into the tournament as the eighth seed. The duo worked their way through the bracket to win against higher seeds, coming close against the number one seed, and ended up finishing sixth in the league. 

“They did so well,” said Leavell. “I have a senior on that team, Jocsan, and that’s probably the best I’ve ever seen him play. I was happy that he ended it on his terms; he didn’t just lose out without a battle – he fought until the end.” 

Janessa Knudsen, the number one girls singles player for the Eagles, battled hard through the tournament, but came up short of continuing to districts. Leavell said he expects this experience to help Knudsen grow as she returns to the court next season. 

As Ewing and Ortega get ready to move into district play this week, Leavell said the most important aspect of the game will be to play with confidence. 

“I know both of them are probably a little nervous going into the next couple of weeks, but between those two I know that they have probably worked harder than most anybody in that league. Those two play all the time and work really hard at it,” he said. “I just want them to trust in their game and come out and play confidently.” 

The Eagles are heading off to play in Ephrata Thursday for the first day of districts and will play again Saturday in Grandview. 

    Francisco Ortega from the Eagles prepares to serve to his opponent in the league tournament.
  

    Riley Frazier, left, and Jade Lopez, right, from Soap Lake talk to Assistant Coach Clarissa Larsen in between sets over the weekend.
  

    Eagles player Jon Knapp throws up the ball as he gets ready to serve in first doubles in the league tournament.
  

    Tanya Zubritskiy from the Eagles shakes hands with her opponent after a match over the weekend.