Girls tennis earns second place at district tourney

The girls team earned a second-place finish at the Special District 3 tennis Tournament held at Black Butte Ranch on Thursday and Friday, May 10 and 11. North Bend took championship honors and Junction City finished third.

Sisters' No. 1 and No. 2 doubles teams both finished in the top four and will head to the state tournament next week.

Jen Houk and Elise Herron (No. 1 doubles) beat Ashley Holton and Livia Wang of St. Mary's in the quarterfinals with scores of 6-2, 6-3. The duo played an excellent match and set each other up for the put-away.

"Elise had good deep cross-court baseline shots that were very difficult to return," said Coach Marti Dale.

In the semifinals Houk and Herron lost to Quilin Deming and Taylor Cuzzort of North Bend 6-2, 6-1 for a fourth-place finish.

"The North Bend team was just stronger and harder-hitting," stated Dale. "They had a lot of top-spin, which made it hard for Jen and Elise to set up plays for themselves."

Shelbi Thompson and Paige Tosello (No. 3 doubles) also finished fourth.

Thompson and Tosello, who were not seeded in the tourney, upset Camille Fisher and Sarah Escota (No. 4 seed) of North Bend 6-2, 6-4 in the quarterfinals.

"The girls played a very consistent game and got all the plays back," said Dale. "Once the North Bend girls got down they just kept spiraling down and couldn't get their serves back."

Of the tourney Dale said, "All of the kids played such good tennis. They were amazing and did a fantastic job hosting the tournament. And, it was so nice to have good weather."

The Outlaws will play at the state tournament at the University of Oregon Thursday through Saturday, May 17-19.