Tennis players compete at District

The girls tennis team competed at the Girls Special District 2 Tournament held at Black Butte Ranch on May 8-9. Marigrace Marshall (No. 1 singles player) finished fourth and will advance to the state tennis championships in Eugene on May 19.

Marshall, seeded number three, got a bye in her first round. In the second round of competition she defeated Jessie Tanke of Marist 2-6, 7-6, 1-0 (11-9). Marshall earned a decisive victory over Katie Kahle of North Marion in the third round with scores of 6-0, 6-4. Marshall went on to defeat Amber Shaw of Blanchet in the quarterfinals in just two sets, 6-0, 6-4 and then lost 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 to Divneet Kaur of Marist in the semifinals. Marshall finished fourth, which gave her an automatic berth to the State Championships.

Ashley Garua (No. 4 singles) was defeated 6-1, 4-6, 0-1 (8-10) by Gwen Rogers of North Bend in the first round.

Number three singles player Tori Miller was injured the day before District. A fence fell on her leg and her knee was so swollen she was unable to participate.

Sisters didn’t have a player in the No. 2 singles position.

Sisters’ number one doubles team, Claire Rerat and Elyss Clasen, got a bye in the first round and were defeated 6-7, 1-6, 0-1 (10-12) in the second round to Iskra and Reersler of Junction City. The loss automatically put them in the consolation bracket.

In doubles consolation the teams played pro sets. Rerat and Clasen defeated Vance and Monson of Blanchet 8-1 in the first round, and went on to earn an 8-4 victory over Gingerich and Temple of Molalla in the second round.

“Molalla had beaten us at the end of the season so it was nice to come back and beat them in the consolation bracket,” said senior Claire Rerat.

The Rerat/Clasen duo went on to defeat Avery and Fobert of North Marion 8-3 in the third round. Rerat and Clasen advanced to the finals and earned a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory over Sawyer and Graham of Cascade to win the Consolation Bracket. The win gave them a fifth place finish at Districts.

“It was a good ending to the season for me and Elyss,” said Rerat. “We went out and played every match as hard as we could. We did lose a couple of times during league but we were always confident about our play. We were really pleased with how close we played Junction City in the first round at Districts. We just lost by a couple of points in the tiebreaker.”

Number two doubles, Jaci Armstrong and Heather Schaab, got a bye in the first round, then earned a 7-5, 6-4 victory over Avery and Fobert of North Marion. In the third round the Sisters duo defeated McNally and Berrewaerts of Stayton 7-6, 6-1, 1-0 (10-8) in a very intense and exciting match that included good, long rallies. Armstong and Schaab lost 1-6, 4-6 in the quarterfinals to Foti and Albers of Cascade.

Jill Zapeda and Liz Dale, the number three Sisters duo, got a bye in the first round and in the second round easily defeated Robinette and Robinette of North Bend 6-0, 6-1. Zapeda and Dale were eliminated in the third round when they lost 3-6, 0-6 to Schein and Hall of St. Mary’s.

“These girls were originally singles players,” said Zapeda. “One was only 15 years old and they are both ranked in the United States tennis Association (USTA), which is a national ranking. Everything they hit or served was really hard and you definitely had to play smart.

“They’d serve and we’d hit it with all our might but their serve was so hard and had so much spin on it that it would either fall dead at our feet or go flying outside the fence. Oh my gosh! It was mind boggling! But, it was great to play people that hard just to get our feet wet and be exposed to tennis in the bigger world, but on the other hand it was sad that we didn’t get that kind of play in our league.”

The No. 4 duo of Stephanie Napier and Marrissa Tosello defeated Vance and Monson of Blanchet 7-6, 6-4 in the first round. Napier and Tosello were eliminated in the second round when they lost 2-6, 3-6 to Goeckel and Maxwell of Marist.