Tennis: Plenty of local talent as state tournaments come to Tri-Cities

After taking two of the top three spots in regionals, the Richland High School doubles teams of Colton Sowers and Nathan Lipton, and Andrew Um and Callum Pe are set to take on all comers at Richland High School in Friday’s opening round of the Class 4A state tournament.

Sowers and Lipton, Richland’s No. 1 and 2 singles players, finished second in the regional tournament and will play Joe Lyon and Kane Vu of Bellarmine Prep in the opening round. Um and Pe, who finished third in regionals, will take on Robert Bernovich and Tyler Mick from Stadium. Both matches are set to get underway at 8:30 a.m.

Richland coach Felix Quinn is optimistic about his players chances on championship weekend.

“I think they’ll take the first round, but in the second round we get Wenatchee,” Quinn said. “If they take Wenatchee, I think they’ll go all the way.”

Quinn has coached at Richland since 1996 and said it’s the first time he’s been able to put three doubles teams into the state tournament.

“We looked at the Inland Empire and saw who the top four singles players would be and decided our best chance would be in doubles,” Quinn said.

Like in all of the state tournament brackets, win or lose, both duos will play a second match at 11:30 a.m. If either pair splits their first two games, they will play a third match at 1:30 p.m.

4A Girls

Richland’s third doubles team, consisting of junior Chelsey Li and freshman Quinci Fisher, placed third in its regional tournament and will take on Alyssa Silvernail and Maddie Egan of Rogers in the opening round of state.

Quinn said he usually puts his talented freshmen on doubles squads in order to get them varsity match experience, and Friday will doubt be a great experience for the young Fisher. Even though the girls doubles bracket is loaded with skilled players, Quinn expects Li and Fisher to have a good shot at winning their first round matchup, in spite of their No. 3 seed out of regionals.

“I figure the first match they’ll be at 100 percent and we’ll have a pretty good chance,” Quinn said.

That match will take place at 10 a.m. at Richland High, with a subsequent match set to begin at 1 p.m. The potential third match on Friday for Li and Fisher would begin at 4 p.m.

Coming off a third-place finish in regionals, Pasco’s three-time Mid-Columbia Conference champ Eden Snider is hoping to rebound in her opener against Gig Harbor’s Joyce Park (8:30 a.m., Columbia Basin Racquet Club). A win and Snider will play again at 1 p.m.; 11:30 a.m. with a loss.

3A Girls

Kennewick sophomore Maggie Fiocchi overcame the ghost of regionals past last weekend when she beat Shadle Park’s Audra Spago — who she lost to at regionals last year — to claim her first regional championship to go along with her two MCC 3A district titles.

Now she will try to notch another bit of greatness in her young career as a Lion by getting into the second day of the state tournament for the first time. Fiocchi faces a familiar foe in the first round of state, Lauren Skelly of Columbia River, who Fiocchi beat in straight sets in the loser’s bracket of last year’s state tourney.

Fiocchi and Skelly’s rematch will take place at 10 a.m. at the Tri-City Court Club.

Hanford’s Christina Xantheas and Emily Tan have a shot at making some noise on the doubles side of the 3A girls’ bracket.

Xantheas and Tan impressed in their regional championship match, handily defeating Mt. Spokane’s Hailey Gribner and Kaitlyn Streltzoff 6-0, 6-1.

The Hanford pair will try to keep their momentum rolling against Kori Gonzales and Lucie Doran of North Thurston at 8:30 a.m. at Kamiakin High School.

Grace Hamaker and Devyn Wolfe of Southridge will compete in the doubles bracket as well, opening play at 8:30 a.m. against Ellie Allen-Hatch and Emily Wright of Shorewood.

3A Boys

Hanford’s Will Thompson enters the state tournament as a regional champion, a title that Shadle Park’s Brendan Archer made him earn.

The two battled in the regional championship, with Thompson eventually eking out the victory, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5). Archer went on to run away with the second-place match against Hanford’s Angelo Bravo, 6-1, 6-2, to punch his own ticket to state.

Thompson will begin the state tourney against Mercer Island’s Nils Harder at 8:30 a.m. at TCCC. A potential rematch between him and Archer, at least in the winners bracket, wouldn’t take place until the state finals Saturday.

Southridge’s doubles pairing of Gianni Landby and Jacob Aoyama round out the list of local regional champions.

Landby and Aoyama earned their regional title by toppling Mount Spokane’s George Johnson and Henry Johnson, 7-5, 7-5.

The duo will face Eli Wagner and Jeremy Lipschutz of Bainbridge Island at 10 a.m. at Kamiakin.

2A Girls

Prosser’s Joslyn Felicijan qualified for state after winning the district title over Ephrata’s Teighan Moore, 6-2, 6-3.

Felicijan will take on Anneli Seaberg of North Kitsap at 8 a.m. Friday.

The Class 2A state tournament is being held at the Nordstrom Tennis Center in Seattle.

Small Schools

District runners-up Chess and Jolee Booker will represent Connell at the 1B/2B/1A state championships at the Yakima Tennis Club.

Chess Booker will begin the tournament against Tonasket’s Caeleb Hardesty at 8:30 a.m., and Jolee Booker will face Aleah Kert of Cashmere at 11 a.m.

All matches at the Yakima Tennis Club will take place on the outdoor courts.

This story was originally published May 26, 2016 at 6:08 PM with the headline "Tennis: Plenty of local talent as state tournaments come to Tri-Cities."