Both the girls and the boys tennis teams’ seasons came to an end last weekend at the Special District 1 championships, held in Bend for the girls and Hermiston for the boys, where neither team had players that qualified for the 5A state tournament.
The girls finished fifth of seven teams and scored five points, beating out Mountain View (4), and Pendleton (2). A surprise to just about no one, Summit — a 5A powerhouse in just about every sport —ran away with the match, scoring 33 points. Summit took the boys match by an even larger margin, scoring 38 points and was nearly double the score of second-place Mountain View. HRV placed fourth with nine points and was just a point and a half behind third-place Hermiston. The Eagles edged Bend (8.5 points) and defeated The Dalles (4) and Pendleton (1.5).
Girls
For Ellie Schmidt, head coach for the HRV girls, it was a fine end to her debut season with the Eagles.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better first year coaching,” she said. “The girls were great, and (Assistant Coach) Erin Mason went above and beyond this season helping me learn the ropes. I look forward to next season and hope to get girls farther in the tournament and even qualify for state.”
Nobody was able to make it farther than the second round for HRV in either the singles or doubles brackets. In singles, Olivia Newcomb lost her opening match to fifth-seeded Katelyn Millard of Hermiston 6-2, 6-3. Kirby Joseph also couldn’t get past her first opponent, Aki Robinson of Summit, losing 6-3, 6-2. Montsie Garrido, the lone seeded player in the singles bracket for HRV (No. 6), took her match against Bend’s Susie Garcia in three sets (6-3, 3-6, 10-1), but then lost to Hermiston’s Jaycee Ternes in the second round (6-3, 6-4). Nikki Paulus had the most decisive singles match win for HRV, defeating Jessi Marken of Mountain View 6-1, 6-0. In the next round Garrido was swept by Summit’s Autumn Layden, who eventually took first in the singles bracket.
The team fared a little better in doubles competition, with three of four pairs mak-ing it to the second round. Kayla Green and Claire Oswald won their first match 6-0, 6-4 against The Dalles’ Maggie Corey and Cassie Vasquez and then lost to top-seeded Kyla Collier and Jesse Vezo, who would end up taking the doubles title for Bend. America and Crystal Flores came out ahead in a three-set grinder (Caughill/Riley, Bend) tak-ing the first 6-2, losing the next 4-6, then winning the final 10-7. The twins then lost 6-0, 6-1 to Hermiston’s fourth-seeded Mackenzie Hill and Chy Peterson in the second round. Bianca Badillo and Vanessa Olivas also found themselves on the right side of a three-set decision against Kelsey Leighton and Nichole Collins of Mountain View (5-7, 6-3, 11-9), then were swept by No. 3 Sonja Kinney and Sabryna Adrianson of Summit. Tia Semmes and Camaryn Chambers also had a match that went to three sets, but fell to Mountain View’s duo of Jamie McCool and Faith Holm (6-2, 4-6, 10-7).
Boys
HRV Head Coach Jon Hiatt said overall, the team had a successful tournament, with two doubles teams and a single making it to the quarterfinals, although he was miffed that the rain put an end to the consolation round on Saturday.
“We had a chance to catch Hermiston on the second day with all of our guys in the consolation,” he said. “It’s a bummer that we couldn’t play those matches on Saturday due to the weather. I was counting on another three points, which would have overtaken Hermiston.”
In singles, Ron Rodriguez fought through three sets to defeat The Dalles’ James Pashek (4-6, 6-2, 10-5) and then was swept by No. 1 seed and eventual singles champion Carter Quigley, of Summit. Will Ferrick defeated Pendleton’s Henry Holdman, a six-seed, in the first round (6-1, 3-6, 10-4) and then won a close two-set match against The Dalles’ Will Coy (6-3, 7-6). Ferrick then lost in the quarterfinal to Hermiston’s third-seeded Jake Snell (6-0, 6-3). Cole Shepherd defeated Riverhawk Daniel Santillan in his first round match (6-3, 7-5), then fell by a score of 6-1 in both sets of his next match with No. 2 Seth Atkin-son of Mountain View. Alden Sova rounded out the singles competition for HRV with a first-round exit to TJ Fournier of Mountain View (6-2, 6-3).
In doubles, Hugo Sandoval and Arthur Finstad advanced all the way to the quarterfinals, defeating Peter Wallace and Silas Johnston of Pendleton 6-2 in both sets of the round one match. They then beat the pair of Ben Wenndorf and Alex Pitcher from Mountain View in the second round (7-5, 6-2) before losing to Summit’s top-rated pair of Peter Rutherford and Javier Camino (6-1, 6-0). Simon Harsanyi and Soren Rajani also advanced, taking out Mountain View’s Adi Wolfenden and Grant Miller (score not available) and defeating Jake Peters and McKinley Abbot of Bend by a score of 7-5, 6-4. They then lost to 6-0, 6-1 to Summit’s Andy Jones and Dylan Warren, who were seeded second and took first place overall in the doubles bracket. Patrick Humann and Sawyer Bogard were the only seeded players in doubles for HRV (No. 6) and enjoyed a bye in the first round, but then lost 6-2, 6-4 to Summit’s Ricky Marine and Henry Allen. Adam and Luke Harter were the fourth pair for HRV and fell in a tough three-set match in the first round (7-5, 2-6, 10-8) to The Dalles’ Jesus Barajas and Brandon Bustamante.
Although they did not get to complete the consolation matches, players were successful in the matches they did get to play. In singles, Sova made it to the semifinals, beating the No. 4 seed on the way, while the Harter brothers made it to the semis in doubles. Harsani and Ra-jani also had an upset in the doubles bracket, defeating the No. 2 team from Mountain View after three sets.
“What a great win for those two guys,” Hiatt said.
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