Girls No. 1 duo will head to state

The girls tennis team played in the OSAA Girls tennis 4A/3A/2A/1A Special District 3 Tournament, which was held Thursday through Saturday, May 14-16, at Black Butte Ranch, and walked away with a fifth-place finish.

Unfortunately, Coach Susan Fullhart was unable to attend. Fullhart's son Sam, was involved in a bike accident, suffered serious facial trauma, and was airlifted to Portland. Ben Fullhart stepped in to coach for his mom, and boys Coach Bim Gander provided details and comments about Sisters' matches.

Sisters No. 1 combo, Brenna Weems and Jesse Farr-Baenziger (No. 4 seed) earned a fourth-place finish and will advance to the state championships.

Weems and Farr-Baenziger blanked Cheunjit and Libatore of St. Marys 6-0, 6-0 in the first round, and then defeated LaGesse and Lyon of North Bend 6-1, 6-3, in the second round.

In the quarter-finals, Weems and Farr-Baenziger matched up against Mehlbrech and Curran from Junction City, a team they'd split matches with earlier in the season.

Brenna and Jesse came out on top with scores of 7-6 (7-5), 6-3. It was a make-or-break match, and the win secured the duo a berth to the state tourney. In the tiebreaker, Brenna and Jesse were tied at 5-5, and Jesse hit a net-court winner and got a point. The duo earned the next point to secure the win.

Coach Gander said, "You could see they (JC) were visibly defeated with the loss of that first set."

Weems and Farr-Baenziger faced Hahn and Matheson, the No. 1 seed from Henley, in the semi-finals, and lost the match 6-0, 6-0.

"They (Henley) were clearly - by leaps and bounds - the best team at the tournament," said Gander. "They only lost one game the entire tournament."

Brenna and Jesse lost their final match for a fourth-place tournament finish. The combo lost 4-6, 6-3, 3-6, to Boesl and Guirado from Marshfield.

"It was a long back-and-forth match," stated Gander. "There was a lot of aggressive play from the Marshfield team, but our girls battled well. In the second set, Jesse's lobs were able to overcome Boesls' strong overhead shots."

Play from the other Outlaws were critical, and together the team earned a fifth-place finish overall. Marshfield finished first, Junction City was runner-up, and North Bend took third.

Weems and Farr-Baenziger will play in the state tournament at OSU on Thursday and Friday, May 21- 22.