By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
Area tennis players are competing at their respective state tournaments in Andover and Wichita Friday and Saturday. Below are results from day one.
At the Class 5A state meet in Andover, Great Bend sophomore Paige Stacey made an early exit after dropping her first two matches. A win in round one would have pitted Stacey against Andover's No. 1 seed in senior Molly Gaddis. Instead, the No. 17 seed Stacey dropped a 6-1, 6-0 to senior Aleaha Schwinn, the No. 16 seed from Spring Hill. Stacey lost an 8-1 match to No. 12 seed Kali Keough of Emporia on the back side.
Ellsworth's doubles team of junior Inarie Rippert and sophomore Reygan Coonrod remain unbeaten with a trip to the state semifinals at the Class 3-2-1A state tournament in Wichita. As the No. 2 seed, the girls defeated Cimarron 6-0, 6-0, then had the tough task of handing teammates Felis De La Cruz and Elena Jundt a 6-2, 6-0 loss. Coonrod and Rippert will play Hesston's No. 6 seed in Saturday's semifinal.
Hesston's squad knocked off Central Plains' No. 3 seed of senior Grace Lamatsch and Ryann Metro 7-6(3), 6-2 to reach the semifinals. Central Plains will open Saturday against Marysville. Ellsworth's De La Cruz and Jundt downed Ellinwood seniors Grace Sturtz and Mahra Johnston 6-3, 6-3 in round two. Ellinwood later lost an 8-3 match against Meade. De La Cruz and Jundt play Wichita Classical on Saturday.
Singles players are alive and well in the Class 3-2-1A bracket in Wichita. Sterling junior Chelsie Brown, coached by former Central Plains High School standout Janae Ryan, entered the bracket as the No. 1 seed with a perfect 32-0 record. She won a pair of matches Friday to advance to Saturday's state semifinals.
St. John senior Camila Sanchez-Rojas will play Brown in Saturday's semifinal round. As the No. 5 seed, Sanchez-Rojas knocked off the No. 21 seed from Collegiate 6-1, 6-1, then defeated No. 4 seed Karli Haase of Ellsworth 6-4, 6-2 in the quarters.
Hoisington senior Reese Merlau entered the bracket as the No. 16 seed with a 6-5, 6-3, win against the No. 17 seed from Hutchinson Trinity. Brown defeated Merlau 6-0, 6-0. Merlau continued her state run with an 8-2 win against teammate Claire Crutcher, then advanced with a win by injury default. The senior Crutcher entered as the No. 12 seed and lost a 4-6, 6-4, 12-10 battle against Collegiate to drop to the back side of the bracket.
Ellsworth's two single players also remain alive but are doomed to play one another to open Saturday's action. After a 6-2, 6-2 win against Marysville, Haase lost just her second match of the season to St. John's Sanchez-Rojas. Sophomore Hannah Vague, playing as the No. 19 seed, promptly upset No. 14 seed Danika Bingle of Sterling 6-3, 6-1, but dropped her next match to Kansas City Christian's No. 3 seed senior Lauren Seitz 6-2, 6-1. Vague advanced to Saturday's matchup with Haase with an 8-2 win over Osborne and an 8-4 win against Phillipsburg.