Chelan sending players to District 6 Tourney, plus to Girls CTL/NEA Crossover in Spokane

Next up:  District 6 Tournament (state tournament qualifier) on Tuesday, May 16 and Thursday, May 19 at 2 p.m. at Lake Chelan Shores, plus the Girls’ CTL/NEA Crossover on Saturday, May 20 at noon at Mead High School.

Saturday, May 13  - CTL Tourney
QUINCY - All the remaining CTL players who survived day 1 on Thursday returned to Quincy on Saturday morning for the final rounds of the tournament.  For the boys, this was a qualifier for the district tournament this upcoming week vs. the B schools, because the 1A boys and B boys are pooled for this year’s state tournament.  For the girls, this acted as their district tournament because they are NOT pooled with the B girls for state.
I was impressed by the grit, determination and fitness of our team.  The elements were difficult today, with intense heat and strong wind.  This tournament was full of dehydration induced cramps and heat exhaustion, but not a single Chelan athlete succumbed to those elements.  We were truly GOAT TOUGH, both physically and mentally.
All of the Chelan girls’ wins in this tournament resulted in a district championship for the second year in a row.
In girls singles, Arden Paglia’s first match of the day was the championship match vs Faith Kert of Cashmere.  In today’s match, Arden had her best results of the season vs. last year’s 1A doubles champion, but came up short.  That forced Arden to play the winner of the consolation bracket (third place) in order to defend her second place finish, because the two had not previously played in the tournament.  In that match, Arden defeated Zienna Erickson of Cascade 6-2, 6-2 to maintain her #2 seed.  Paglia will travel to Spokane on Saturday, May 20 for a winner to state - loser out crossover match vs an NEA opponent (NEA is the Spokane area 1A league).
The CTL girls doubles bracket was dominated by Chelan, but with only two entries moving on to the NEA crossover next weekend, a lot of “friendly fire” resulted.  First, Chelan’s Ellie McLemore and Josie Garfoot won their consolation semifinal 6-1, 6-1 over Lassila/O’Neil of Omak, while Chelan teammates Piper Grossberg and Maya Cowan also won their consolation semifinal over Hansch/Seidensticker of Cashmere 6-2, 6-0.  Those two wins forced a Chelan vs. Chelan matchup in the consolation final, which Grossberg and Cowan won by a narrow margin 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.  That put Grossberg/Cowan in third and McLemore/Garfoot in fourth with only the top two moving on to the NEA crossover.  Meanwhile, Chelan’s Liv Strandberg and Caelan Rothlisberger were in the championship match vs. Richter/Sackman of Omak.  Unfortunately, Strandberg and Rothlisberger lost the tightest of matches 6-7, 6-7 to take second.  Plot twist:  since only two entries move on and Strandberg/Rothlisberger had not yet played Grossberg/Cowan, that forced a second vs. third match similar to Arden’s match in singles.  That match also turned out to be a long close win, with Grossberg and Cowan prevailing 6-1, 1-6, 6-3.  So, Piper Grossberg and Maya Cowan will also be traveling to Spokane next Saturday for that same winner to state - loser out match vs. an NEA doubles team.  Strandberg and Rothlisberger will be alternates.  In the end, Chelan took three out of the top four placements in the girls doubles bracket - quite an accomplishment.
In boys singles, Co-CTL Player of the Year Rylen Moody won his semifinal match 6-0, 6-3 over Noah Rose of Omak, which placed Moody in the championship vs. Charlie Lyons of Cascade.  However, after dropping the first set to Lyons narrowly in a tiebreaker 5-7, Moody lost the second set 2-6 to finish in second place.  Teammate Cray Silva began the day attempting to fight his way through the consolation bracket, first by defeating Robert Bensch of Quincy 7-6, 6-2.  That put Cray up against Rose of Omak who moved to the consolation bracket after losing to Moody.  Cray won the first set 7-5, and was up 1-0 in the second when Rose retired from the match.  In addition, Silva was awarded third place in his next match because opponent JJ Groner of Cashmere had an injury default.  So, Rylen Moody will enter this week’s district tournament as the #2 seed, and Silva as the #3 seed.
In boys doubles, unfortunately there was more Chelan vs. Chelan friendly fire.  Luke Christopherson and Sam Bordner opened the morning in the semifinals, but fell to the eventual champions Kirk/Sackman of Omak 6-2, 6-3.  At that same time, teammates Tristan and Wade Sanderson were eeking out a match in the consolation bracket vs. Johnson/Peterson of Cascade 6-7, 7-6, 6-4.  So, that put Christopherson/Bordner up against the Sandersons in a loser out - winner to districts matchup, which Bordner and Christopherson narrowly won 7-5, 6-4.  That put Luke and Sam in the consolation final for third/fourth, but their opponents also injury defaulted, so Luke and Sam will enter the district tournament as #3 seeds.  Tristan and Wade also won their match for fifth/sixth over Guerin/Lewis of Cashmere, so they’re the alternates to districts in the boys doubles bracket.
It’s exciting to have at least one Chelan entry still alive in each of the four postseason brackets - the only CTL school to do so!

May 11 - CTL Tourney
QUINCY - The CTL converged on Quincy on Thursday for day one of the CTL Championships, which is the initial layer of our postseason.  Conditions were difficult, as the heat made fatigue and muscle cramps a factor for many athletes. Effort and focus was high today, so the Goats had one of their strongest tennis days of the season, and set themselves up for some outstanding potential success in Saturday’s (May 13) conclusion.
In girls singles, #2 seed Arden Paglia had a first round bye, won her quarterfinal over Freya Dronen of Cashmere 6-0 6-1, and won her semifinal 6-0, 6-0 over Ashlyn Reichert of Cashmere.  That puts Arden in the championship match on Saturday vs. Faith Kert of (you guessed it) Cashmere.  Candice Ducrocq had a strong performance today as well, winning her opener 6-4, 6-0 over Kiana Lopez of Omak.  Candice lost her quarterfinal to the aforementioned Kert, and then lost a heartbreaker to #4 seed Sophia Navarro of Quincy 7-6, 5-7, 4-6.
The Chelan girls doubles teams had quite a showing, with all three Chelan teams pushing through to the semifinals.  That meant three of the four semi finalists were Lady Goats.  First, #2 seed Liv Strandberg and Caelan Rothlisberger had a 1st round bye, won their quarterfinal over Hansch/Seidensticker of Cashmere 6-4, 6-0, and won their semifinal over teammates Josie Garfoot and Ellie McLemore 6-3, 6-2.  They’ll play against Richter/Sackman of Omak in the championship match on Saturday, May 13.  In that same half of the bracket, Chelan’s Garfoot and McLemore defeated Reichlin/Benson of Cascade 6-2, 6-1 and knocked off the #3 seeds from Cashmere (Young/Westlund) 6-3, 7-6 before falling to Strandberg/Rothlisberger in the semifinal.  Ellie and Josie are still alive to place as high as third on Saturday, May 13.  On the other half of the bracket, Piper Grossberg and Maya Cowan won their opener 6-0, 6-2 over Eschen/Baker of Cascade, and won their quarterfinal 6-1, 6-1 over Sheffield/Jenkins of Cascade.  Unfortunately Piper and Maya came up short against #1 seeds Richter/Sackman of Omak in the semifinal.  However, Piper and Maya can still place as high as second with a strong showing on Saturday, May 13.
In boys singles, #1 seed Rylen Moody had a first round bye, and won his quarterfinal over Cashmere’s Zeke Lewis 6-3, 6-2.  He’ll face Noah Rose of Omak in the semifinals on Saturday.  Cray Silva won his opener 6-1, 6-3 over Troy Oliver of Omak, and had a near upset over #2 seed JJ Groner of Cashmere in three sets in the quarterfinal.  Cray is still alive in the tournament, and can still place as high as third overall on Saturday (May 13).  Ian Garfoot came up just short on Thursday, losing his opening round loser-out match to Quincy in three sets.
In boys doubles, #4 seeds Luke Christopherson and Sam Bordner were firing on all cylinders with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Guerin/Lewis of Cashmere.  That places them in the semifinals on Saturday (May 13) vs. the #1 seed from Omak.  Also, the young doubles team of Tristan and Wade Sanderson also almost pulled off an upset of the #2 seed,