Chelan High School Tennis

Inland Empire Results
April 28-29
On Friday, April 28 and Saturday, April 29 the Chelan Goats traveled to Spokane for their annual battle in the Inland Empire tennis tournament.  This tournament is the largest high school tennis tournament in the nation, with 50 plus schools, 600 plus players, and 11 sites with 80 plus courts utilized.  Our Chelan kids came away with a lot of wins, valuable match experience against tough competition from large schools, some hardware and too many sunburns.
This tournament is a “guaranteed two matches” format as opposed to a true double elimination tournament (which would take 3-4 days).  Essentially, to stay alive in the tournament, day one contestants on Friday needed to finish win-win-win or lose-win-win.  Any loss in match #2 or match #3 means elimination.  So, about 80% of the entrants are eliminated on day one.  Chelan was able to push four out of our 10 entrants into day 2, and a couple other entrants only came up one match short.

On the girls’ side:
#1 singles entry Arden Paglia played well in round one but lost 3-6, 3-6 to a tough LaSalle (Yakima) opponent.  That forced Arden to battle back and win twice on Friday in the consolation bracket, which she did with wins over Southridge (Kennewick) 6-2, 7-5 and Wenatchee 7-6, 6-2.  That put Arden in the medal round on the consolation side of the bracket on Saturday.  In the consolation semifinal, she ended up losing a close match to eventual fifth place finisher from East Valley (Yakima), but finished the tournament with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Prosser to take 7th overall out of 43 players.
#2 singles entry Candice Ducrocq got the short end of the stick in round one by having to face the #2 seed from Chewelah.  However, she played outstanding against that eventual silver medalist, which gave Candice momentum into another well-played match vs East Valley (Spokane).  She fell just short in a third set tiebreaker 8-10, but played some of the best tennis of her life on Friday.
#1 doubles team Piper Grossberg and Maya Cowan narrowly missed the medal round, but played excellent tennis. The duo won their opener 7-6, 6-3 over Post Falls, and bested another Idaho team (Sandpoint) 6-3, 6-3 in round two, but had their tournament cut shot in their final match on Friday with a narrow 4-6, 3-6 loss to Gonzaga Prep (G Prep would later go on to take 3rd overall in the bracket).  Despite being a newly formed team without much experience together, they demonstrated that they were definitely one of the top doubles teams in the tournament.
#2 doubles team Olivia Strandberg and Caelan Rothlisberger ran the table on Saturday with wins over Cheney (6-1, 6-0), Ridgeline of Spokane Valley (6-0, 6-2) and Gonzaga Prep (6-4, 6-1).  That streak put them into the Saturday morning semifinals vs. #1 seed University High (Spokane), where they came up short 2-6, 1-6.  However, in the follow-up match for third/fourth, Liv and Caelan took down Ephrata 6-2, 6-3 to claim 3rd place out of 40 doubles teams.
#3 doubles Josie Garfoot and Ellie McLemore also were a perfect 3-0 on Friday, with wins over Toppenish (6-2, 6-1), Othello (6-2, 6-0), and Gonzaga Prep (6-4, 6-4) which put them in the semifinals vs #2 seed University HS on Saturday.   Ellie and Josie battled that tough competition and difficult heat on Saturday to fend off UHigh 6-1, 5-7, 6-4, placing them in the championship match vs. #1 seed Mead.  Garfoot and McLemore came up short against Mead, but finished in 2nd place out of 40 doubles teams!
It was an odd coincidence that all three Chelan girls doubles teams faced Gonzaga Prep in their quarterfinal matches this year.  We felt it was a fairly large accomplishment to win two of those three quarterfinal matches against such a heralded 4A private school.

On the boys’ side:
#1 singles entry Rylen Moody had a tough draw, losing to the overall tournament #1 seed and the eventual gold medalist from Southridge (Kennewick) in round one, and also came up short against Shadle Park’s tough #1 singles player in Moody’s do-or-die match 1-6, 5-7.
#2 singles entry Cray Silva lost a heartbreaker in his opener to Mead, falling in the 3rd set tiebreaker 10-12.  Cray fought back to win two more matches on Friday over Cheney 6-2, 6-2 and Ellensburg 6-0, 6-3 to enter Saturday’s medal round.  In his first match on Saturday, Cray was beaten 6-4, 6-1 by Ferris, and unfortunately his seventh/eighth match ended up being a Chelan win by forfeit.  Cray finished 7th overall out of 37 players.
#1 doubles entry Luke Christopherson and Sam Bordner had a rough day, dropping their opener to Coeur d’Alene 1-6, 3-6, and were eliminated in match #2 by Rogers 2-6, 6-7.
#2 doubles brothers Tristan and Wade Sanderson narrowly missed the medal round after a great showing on Friday. They won their opener 6-3, 6-3 over Prosser, and also their second round matchup 6-1, 6-4 over Ephrata. This young Chelan team fell just short in round 3 to Othello 4-6, 4-6.  Othello would go on to medal by taking 3rd place in the bracket, so that’s an outstanding showing by the Sandersons.
#3 doubles entry Ian Garfoot and Caleb Sanderson also narrowly missed the medal round.  The tandem fell 6-7, 3-6 to Mt Spokane in the opening match but came back strong defeating Othello 6-3, 6-1.  Ian and Caleb needed just one more win to medal, but lost the closest match of the day 6-2, 4-6, 6-7, with that 3rd set tiebreaker being 13-15.
 

May 2
Eastmont  at Chelan (non-league)
This was Chelan’s Senior Night
It was beautiful weather for fans, but tough conditions for the players.  That asphalt gets hot, and there was zero breeze.
Girls:  Chelan 4, Eastmont 3
#1 Singles:  Elise Bickford (E) def Arden Paglia 6-4, 6-3 <Soooo many great rallies in this pairing. Two high quality and evenly matched players.
#2 Singles:  Lydia Riggs (E) def Ellie McLemore 4-6, 6-3, 6-2
#3 Singles:  Josie Garfoot (Ch) def Annie Kunze 6-0, 6-2
#4 Singles:  Valerie McCray (E) def Candice Ducrocq 6-4, 6-1
#1 Doubles:  Liv Strandberg/Caelan Rothlisberger (C) def Savannah Nuxol/Sarahi Morelos 6-1, 7-5
#2 Doubles:  Piper Grossberg/Maya Cowan (C) def Kieumy Huber/Emily Sudam 6-0, 6-2
#3 Doubles:  Irene Hernandez/Danika Dietrich (C) def Kelly Tucker/Giselle Delgado 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (7-0), 10-7
Wow, a three tiebreaker match, last match on the court, exciting stuff.
The Chelan girls move to 12-1 overall.  The league schedule is complete at 8-0.
Boys:  Chelan 4, Eastmont 1
#1 Singles:  Luke Christopherson (C) def Josh Anantatmula 6-0, 6-2
#2 Singles:  Braden Vaughn (E) def Sam Bordner 7-5, 6-2
#3 Singles:  Cray Silva (C) def Britt Dickey 6-1, 6-2
#1 Doubles:  Caleb Sanderson/Ian Garfoot (C) def Deacon Allais/Gabriel Torres 6-1, 6-4
#2 Doubles:  Tristan & Wade Sanderson (C) def Adonia Abarca/Jesus Cruz 6-0, 6-0
The Chelan boys are now 10-3 overall.  The league schedule is also complete at 8-0.
Chelan JV wins:
Estee Flynn 8-2
Kim Torres/Signe Lillie 8-5
Josie Bekel/Reese Bordner 8-1

May 4
Chelan  at Okanogan,  non-league, regular season finale for Chelan
We rested a couple key players today in preparation for the postseason, and that created a few great singles matchups that were beneficial for both teams.
Girls:  Chelan 4, Okanogan 1
#1 Singles:  Liberty Linklater (O) def Ellie McLemore 6-3, 6-2
#2 Singles:  Josie Garfoot (Ch) def Ashlyn Keith 6-0, 6-0
#3 Singles:  Candice Ducrocq (Ch) def Esmerelda Torres 6-1, 6-1
#1 Doubles:  Piper Grossberg/Maya Cowan (Ch) def Carlatta Devincentis/Denise Marquez 6-0, 6-1
#2 Doubles:  Liv Strandberg/Caelan Rothlisberger (Ch) def Johanna Naranto/Paulina Naranto 6-0, 6-1
So, the Chelan girls team finished the 2023 regular season an impressive 13-1, their only loss being to an undefeated 2A Ephrata squad via the narrow margin of 3-2.  That’s about as good as it gets.
Boys:  Chelan 4, Okanogan 1
#1 Singles: Owen Painter (O) def Luke Christopherson 6-2, 6-4
#2 Singles:  Sam Bordner (Ch) def Tyler Marshall 6-4, 6-4 <This was the marquee matchup of the evening, the margin being razor thin from start to finish>
#3 Singles:  Cray Silva (Ch) def Cael Gillespie 6-1, 6-2
#1 Doubles:  Wade & Tristan Sanderson (Ch) def Trace Ladoux/Kyan Woodrow 6-0, 6-0
#2 Doubles:  Ian Garfoot/Sawyer Jeffries (Ch) def Jacob Hutton/Aiden Gaines 6-0 ,6-1
With this win, the Chelan boys finished the 2023 regular season 11-3 overall.

Chelan JV wins:
Estee Flynn/Josie Bekel 8-4
Ruby Harberd/Indy Fielding 8-1
Taylor Hatherell/Clara Nordstrom-Domser 8-5
Irene Hernandez/Signe Lillie 8-6

Next up:  The CTL Tournament in Quincy on Thursday, May 11 and Saturday, May 13.