The South Puget Sound League tennis championships concluded on Monday, sending the top 11 singles players and doubles teams to the West Central District tournament.
Thomas Jefferson went home with the most team points in the tournament at 34. Jefferson and Todd Beamer combined to send three singles players and three doubles teams to the district tournament.
Crystal Lee and Ally Peterson were the biggest winners from the area in the tournament. The Jefferson duo finished as the top seed out of the SPSL for districts.
They began the SPSL tournament with a dominant 6-0, 6-0 victory in the second round of the SPSL Central tournament on Friday.
On Saturday and Monday, they cruised to the finals. They met the Rogers duo of Maddie Egan and Alyssa Silvernail in the finals. Lee and Peterson took a tightly contested first set 7-6 and won the second set a bit easier, taking the SPSL title with after winning it 6-3.
Lee has never lost in the SPSL tournament in her four-year career at Jefferson.
Avery Liening also had a strong showing, and she will head to districts with the second singles seed. She advanced past the SPSL Central tournament with a win 6-1, 6-0 over Decatur’s Rachel Kim. On Saturday, she started the SPSL tournament with a 6-0, 6-0 victory over Tahoma’s Hana McPherson. She followed that with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Puyallup’s Courtney Citron.
A win on Monday over Graham-Kapowsin’s Olivia Richied led to a finals showdown with Megan Hagerty, Graham-Kapowsin’s star singles player. Hagerty advanced to the finals with a win over Jefferson’s Erica Dillard.
Hagerty took the top seed, defeating Liening 6-0, 6-4.
Dillard, who lost to Hagerty in the semifinals, went on to win the third singles seed with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Richied.
The final singles player to make it to districts was Jefferson’s Alicia Gim. Gim won a tough 6-4, 6-4 match against Curtis’ Selena Cudny to advance past the SPSL Central tournament. She beat Kentwood’s Kate Terrado 6-3, 6-2 in the first round of the SPSL tournament before falling to Hagerty 6-1, 6-0 in the quarterfinals.
Gim bounced back with wins over Curtis’ Zoe Garrett and Mount Rainier’s Alessia Pepe. Tahoma’s Kianna Rem got the best of her in a close 6-4, 6-4 match in the fifth and sixth seed game.
Beamer’s Briana Mao-Berry and Nicole Lim were the next highest-placing duo from Federal Way. They advanced past the SPSL Central tournament with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Curtis’ Emma Page and Giovanna Girolami.
They advanced to the semifinals of the SPSL tournament where they were defeated by Lee and Peterson. In their final match of the tournament, they fell to Curtis’ Alex Egbert and Angie Neyman to finish with the fourth seed for the West Central District tournament.
Jefferson’s other team of Mia Rosa and Michelle Kim were the final players to advance to the district tournament. They won their only SPSL Central tournament match 6-0, 6-1 over Decatur’s Haiau Vo and Carla Barbosa. They would ultimately end up with the 10th seed at districts, losing their final match 6-2, 6-4 to Kent-Meridian’s Karissa Vongkhamchanh and Gheramic Ichban.
Julia Kizis was the lone representative for Decatur to make the SPSL tournament. She won her first match of the SPSL Central tournament 6-3, 6-4 over Beamer’s Izzy Pajares. She overcame an injury late in the second set and managed to hold on to win. She then advanced to the district tournament, where she won by default over Curtis’ Jamie Tran. Kizis fell in both of her district matches, losing 6-0, 6-0 to Rem and 6-4, 6-3 to Garrett.
The district tournament begins at 7:45 a.m. on May 20 at the Boeing Employees Tennis Center in Kent. Six singles players and doubles team will advance to the state tournament.
