District 6 Tennis Tournament

Day 1, May 15
MANSON - All of the 1A and B tennis teams in north central Washington met at Harmony Meadows today (May 15 ) for Day 1 of the District VI Tennis Tournament, which is the qualifier for next week’s state tournament.  We got off to an early start on May 15 (noon rather than 3 p.m.) due to the threat of late afternoon rain.

In this tournament, the top three girls and top four boys will move on to the state tournament.  Each entrant played once May 15, and will play two or three times on Saturday (May 18) at the North Cascades Athletic Club in Omak beginning at 10 a.m.

Chelan had about as good a day as you can hope for, winning all four matches and sending all four entries to the Saturday semifinals.

Emma McLaren entered as the #1 girls singles seed from the CTL, pitting her against the #4 seed from the NCW B-league Savannah Hobrecht of Lake Roosevelt.  Emma came away with a 6-2, 6-3 victory, and will face Molly Wiser of Cascade in the semifinals on Saturday, which is a rematch of the CTL tourney semifinal from last weekend.

Wyatt Habich was also CTL champion in boys singles, so he opened up against #4 seed Connor Hardesty of Tonasket.  Connor was a tough opponent, and it took all that Wyatt had in the tank to sneak by Hardesty 7-5, 6-4.  Habich will face Kane Andruss of Cashmere on Saturday in the semifinal.

Tobin Wier is the #2 seed in boys singles coming out of the CTL, and faced Nicholas Fitzmaurice of Liberty Bell today.  Tobin had a dominant opening set, but had to work hard to get by Fitzmaurice in the second set 6-2, 7-6(2).  That puts Tobin in the other boys semifinal on Saturday morning vs state tourney veteran Caeleb Hardesty of Tonasket.

The Chelan doubles team of Abby Martin and Bella Gatzemeier are the #3 seed from the CTL, and battled Tarissa and Raven Clark of Lake Roosevelt, which was a rematch from the final week of the regular season.  Abby and Bella coasted to victory 6-0, 6-2, and will face the Kert sisters of Cashmere in a rematch of their CTL semifinal last week.

So, for all of our entries, Saturday’s (May 18) path to a state berth looks like this:  either win the semifinal and their ticket is punched, or lose the semifinal and have to fight back through the consolation bracket.

Day 2, May 18
On to State

Chelan began the day with five athletes competing in the district tournament, and we finished the day with all 5 players qualifying for the state tournament. The Chelan tennis team will be sending the most entries of any other District VI squad (four state berths)!

In today's (May 18) tournament, the top three finishers in the girls' brackets and top four boys finishers move on to the state tournament.  All of our Chelan entries began the day in “best case scenario mode" (they had worked their way to the semifinal match via their play on day 1 of the tournament on May 15), so Saturday's path to a state berth looked like this for each of them:  either win the semifinal and their ticket is punched, or lose the semifinal and have to fight back through the consolation bracket.

Emma McLaren entered as the #1 girls singles seed from the CTL, and faced Molly Wiser of Cascade in the semifinals, winning 6-0, 6-4.  In the district championship match, Emma defeated Dorothy Espinosa of Cascade 6-2, 6-0.  Congrats to Emma McLaren - the 2019 District VI Girls Singles Champion!  She'll enter the state tourney as a #1 seed.

Wyatt Habich was also CTL champion in boys singles, and faced Kane Andruss of Cashmere in the semifinal.  Wyatt had a tough match vs Kane, and fell 4-6, 3-6.  That forced Wyatt into a loser-out/winner-to-state match versus Nicholas Fitzmaurice of Liberty Bell, which Wyatt handled well, winning 6-3, 6-1.  Wyatt will enter the state tournament as a #3 seed.

Tobin Wier was the #2 seed in boys singles coming out of the CTL, and had his semifinal match state versus state tourney veteran Caeleb Hardesty of Tonasket. Tobin played well against the eventual champion, but lost 0-6, 1-6.  Like teammate Wyatt, Tobin faced an immediate loser-out/winner-to-state match vs Elijah Burnell of Oroville.  Tobin excuted a perfect game plan, and impressed while defeating a tough opponent 6-2, 6-2.  Tobin will enter the state tournament as a #4 seed.

The Chelan doubles team of Abby Martin and Bella Gatzemeier were the #3 seed from the CTL, and faced Aleah and Lauren Kert of Cashmere in a rematch of their CTL semifinal last week.  Abby and Bella fell to the eventual champions from Cashmere, but you guessed it, had to win their next TWO matches to earn a trip to state.  In their first consolation match, the Chelan duo defeated Hardesty/Capote of Tonasket in gutsy comeback fashion 4-6, 6-0, 6-1.  In the must-win 3rd/4th match, Abby and Bella handled Wyllson/Perez of Okanogan for the third time this post-season 6-2, 6-4.  Martin and Gatzemeier will enter the state tournament as #3 seeds.

 I'm proud of Emma, our district champion, and also proud of the heart shown by our other players who lost their semi-final match, but fought back to earn that state berth.

The WIAA State Tennis Tournament is combined for 1A, 2B and 1B, and takes place at the Yakima Tennis Club on Friday, May 24 and Saturday, May 25.