State Tennis Preview: Columbia River faces tall task of defending state titles
May 21-Columbia River tennis has a lot to defend this weekend in Seattle.
But the Rapids are kind of use to that.
Senior Lucas Walburn is the defending boys singles state champion at Class 2A, while the River girls team has won four of the last five Class 2A titles including the last two in a row.
The girls bring with them to the Nordstrom Tennis Center on the University of Washington campus last year's 2A singles runner-up in junior Jenny Serebriakova, as well as two doubles teams.
Play begins Friday for all the state tournaments with finals on Saturday.
However, River coach Kevin Erickson said the actual finals might take place on Friday.
"I do a lot of scouting and know the landscape of the state pretty well," Erickson said. "I believe the two best players on both the boys and girls side will be playing each other second round."
Walburn could potentially face Harvey Kaiser of Sehome in a rematch of last year's state semifinal Walburn won in straight sets, while Serebriakova could play Lynden's Halley Brooks who won the doubles title a year ago.
"Kind of a bummer that the best matches might be so early in the tournament," Erickson said of his hunch.
Helping the River girls in defense of their state titles will also be two doubles teams.
Senior Annie Morgan and sophomore Sydney Walburn are coming off a 2A District 4 doubles title, while senior Evelyn Pan and sophomore Evie Flak placed third to get to state.
In boys doubles, Columbia River has a team of juniors in Tyler Stimmel and Ryan Wyle-Wilson, while Ridgefield is represented by seniors Brody Wolski and Eli Miller.
Class 4A at Kennewick
Leo Zhao of Camas, who placed seventh at state last year, drew the tough assignment of having to play defending champion Adrian Marin of Issaquah in the first round.
This is Zhao's fourth trip to state. He also placed eighth as a freshman in 2023 but didn't place in his sophomore season.
Camas teammate Dylan Siems is in the same quarter as his teammate. Siems opens against Kamiak senior Levi Seslar, a state doubles qualifier last year.
In the doubles bracket are Skyview twins Isaac Patel and Anton Patel and Union seniors Joseph Wei and Daniel Tsay. This is the first time at state for all four players.
The Patel brothers, who played on the Skyview baseball team this spring, won the 4A Greater St. Helens League district tennis title in the fall, and then placed third at 4A bi-district for the state berth.
Skyview will have its first girls singles player at state since 2015 in junior Annie Sheppert. She placed fifth at the 4A bi-district tournament in Kent.
Freshman Shreya Andey of Union, the 4A district champion over Sheppert, and a bi-district semifinalist, is in the same half of the singles draw as Sheppert and could face last year's runner-up Lydia Xiong of Redmond in the quarterfinals.
No girls doubles teams from the 4A GSHL qualified for state.
Class 3A at Vancouver Tennis Center
Prairie senior Micah Nelson makes his third consecutive appearance at state, but is still looking for that first state match victory on the VTC courts. He will play Jason Pham of Thomas Jefferson in Round 2, which is the double-elimination portion of the bracket.
Victor Simal of Mountain View makes his state debut. The freshman awaits an opponent in Round 2 from the opening round loser-out matches. He is in the same half of the draw as defending champion Joseph DeGracia of Mercer Island.
Mountain View also qualified two doubles teams to state in seniors Caleb Sears and Austin Wick, and the returning state team of junior Jackson Taylor and sophomore Owen Kendrick.
Taylor and Kendrick are also on the Thunder baseball team, which is in the 3A state tournament against O'Dea on Saturday at Kennewick.
In girls singles, Mountain View has sophomore Sophia Andrushko in Round 2 of the singles draw. Her first opponent will be determined in an earlier elimination match.
Kelso's Rain De Leon faces Bellarmine's Chloe Lee, who was fifth last year.
In girls doubles, 2A District 4 champs Rylie and Taylor Nelsen of Kelso are in Round 2 awaiting an opponent. Mountain View's team of Sofia Montoya and Mia DiFabio are at the top of the bracket set to play a team from Silas. Montoya and DiFabio won five loser-out matches at the district tournament to get their state berth.
Action at VTC gets under way at 8 a.m. Friday with the last matches on court around 5:30 p.m. Championship Saturday starts at 8 a.m. with elimination matches. The singles and doubles finals are tentatively scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Admission is free.
Class 1A at Yakima
Charlotte Hayward of Fort Vancouver was placed in the quarterfinal round at Yakima Tennis Club where she will face the winner of an elimination match. Stevenson's Emma Owens plays Freya Dronen of Cashmere in the first match Friday with the winner advancing to the quarters.
No area boys qualified for state.
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