Expectations were shifted around during last week’s South Puget Sound League girls tennis tournament at Kent-Meridian High.
While Kentwood was nicely surprised, advancing six girls through to the West Central District tournament, Kentridge came away a bit stunned as No. 1 singles standout Kim Quach was the lone Charger to advance. Quach snagged the third seed from No. 1 singles.
“I was hoping to get a doubles team through, too,” said Kentridge coach Jennifer McIntosh, who was admittedly surprised that the Chargers advanced just one player.
Kent-Meridian and Kentlake didn’t advance anyone to the district tournament.
The top 10 players in both singles and doubles punched tickets to this week’s district tournament, which begins Wednesday at 8 a.m. at Sprinker Recreation Center in Spanaway. After the opening day, the tournament picks up again on Friday and Saturday. The top six players in singles and doubles advance to the state tournament the following week.
McIntosh believes Quach has what it takes to make a return trip to the state tournament.
“She’s playing well,” McIntosh said of Quach. “She just needs to be confident. She has a power game and she’s going to have to go with it.”
Kentwood certainly went with it during the tournament, pushing through an North Division-high six to the district tournament.
“It was more than I expected,” said Kentwood coach Ingrid Bakke. “They all had the potential to do really well and move on. Based on how tough the year was with all the good teams, it was hit or miss.”
The Conquerors certainly hit. Tess Manthou notched Kentwood’s top seed, taking fourth after defeating Decatur’s Sara Lin, 6-4, 6-4. Eliana Spero also brought home a berth in No. 1 singles, when she outlasted Kristin Houmes of Rogers (Puyallup) 6-2, 7-5.
Kentwood also pushed through doubles tandems Breanna Esber and Alyssa Nagai along with Camille Madsen and Niki Skinner. Esber and Nagai doubled up on Puyallup’s Kaylyn Brown and Emily Sullivan – 6-3, 6-3 – in earning the No. 4 seed.
Madsen and Skinner had to work a bit harder to overcome Graham-Kapowsin’s Hailey Cooper and Kara Whitton. Madsen and Skinner dropped the first set 7-5, then stormed back to win 7-6 (6), 6-2 and thus earn the ninth seed to the district tournament.
“It’s really nice. When Spero, (Skinner and Madsen) won their matches it was huge,” Bakke said. “It was very gratifying because they deserved it.”
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