Goats close out Tennis season strong, finish second in state

CHELAN - The Goats had a historic weekend at the 1A State Tennis Tournament in Yakima, with ever Chelan entry (3) medaling and the team finishing second overall.
• Bryce Robison finished in 7th place in singles.
• Henry Elsner/Rylan Anderson finished 6th in doubles.
• Collin Hendricks/Micah Larson finished 5th place in doubles.

Chelan was among three other schools (University Prep and Charles Wright Academy) who had five athletes in the tournament, and all three finished in the top-three schools.

Robison opened against Malachi Gumpston from Granger and didn’t break a sweat as he sailed to a 6-0,6-0 win. Although Robison lost his next match to an exchange student from Riverside, he won a third match on Friday, May 26 to advance to the medal round.

“On Saturday, Bryce played some of the best tennis of his high school career, but lost to Will Owen of Seattle Academy 2-6, 5-7 to finish in seventh place,” head coach Marty Rothlisberger wrote in his game report. “Congratulations to Bryce on finishing his impressive high school career with high level tennis and a seventh place singles medal.”

Hendricks and Larson were unfortunate to draw one of the top double teams in the tournament in their first round but only suffered a narrow defeat in three sets, 7-5, 0-6, 4-6. Because of the loss, the duo had to win their next two to stay alive for a chance at a medal on Saturday. The pari ended up winning their next three matches though, the last one coming in another three set battle, 6-4, 6-7, 6-0 to take fifth place in the tournament.

Elsner and Anderson started off streaky in their opening match, but they calmed down in the second set to advance 3-6, 6-4, 6-1. In their second match, the pair fell behind 2-5 to start the match, but stymied five set points before winning the set in a tie-breaker and finishing the match with a 6-1 win in the second set.

The win put Elsner and Anderson in the State Semifinals, but they fell to University Prep in two sets Saturday morning, before losing again to finish in sixth place.

“Despite some discouraging losses, the boys were happy to medal and should be very proud,” coach Rothlisberger said. “The second place team finish was also an impressive milestone for Chelan. Finishing second in the teams standings is a big deal for a 1A boys team.”

Despite the ladies past success at state, no public school has won a boys title since 1995, and no public school had even finished in the top five since 2012.

“We were happy to end that streak here in 2017,” coach Rothlisberger stated. “For this reason we’ve again crowned ourselves the ‘Public School State Champions’, our third such title.”

CTL All-League Lineup:
• First team boys singles: Bryce Robison
• First team boys doubles: Henry Elsner, Rylan Anderson, Micah Larson and Collin Hendricks.
• Second team girls doubles: Sierra Rothlisberger, Madeline Peebles.
• Honorable Mention: Emma McLaren (girls singles) Nora Hollingsworth (girls doubles) and Abby Martin (girls doubles).

Zach Johnson can be reached at lcmeditor@gmail.com or (509) 682-2213