Great Northern League/CWAC Glue-In/Subregionals give locals one more chance at 2A state tennis tournament
Rodney Harwood | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 6 years, 6 months AGO
Rodney Harwood/Columbia Basin Herald Othello senior Kyler Villarreal has qualified for his third consecutive 2A state tennis tournament May 25-26 at the Nordstrom Tennis Center in Seattle.
PULLMAN — The road to the 2A state tennis championships at the Nordstrom Tennis Center in Seattle takes one more turn on Saturday with the Great Northern League/CWAC Glue-In/Subregionals on Saturday at Pullman High School.
They call them the crossovers and it’s one last chance to punch their ticket to the main event for two doubles teams from the Columbia Basin and a singles player.
Quincy tandem Gates Petersen and Randy Hodges will play Henry Ward and Sasha Wood of Pullman. Levi Garza and Josh Valdez of Othello will face Tim Watts and Casey Crow of Pullman.
In singles action, Louis Merred of Quincy will play Quinn Bankhead of Pullman for the opportunity to move on.
Othello senior Kyler Villarreal finished as the District runner-up, losing to No. 1 seed Jared Kieser of Selah in the finals. Despite a 6-0, 6-0 result against a state championship contender, Villarreal is playing well and will be playing in his third consecutive 2A state tournament May 25-26.
“It’s all a head game. Tennis is all about angles. It’s about knowing where you want to put the ball to score your points. If you can spot a flaw, tennis is all about going at their weakness on every point,” said Villarreal, who was a first-team, all-CWAC singles player in his final high school season.
“I’m not too worried about how I play or where they’re from. The state tournament is a great experience. It’s just fun to go and spend the weekend competing at the highest level. It’s so important for me to represent Othello. I’ve been doing it now for four years and my coaches and the people have always supported me. It means a lot.”
Othello’s Macy Hampton and Daishawn Roylance punched their ticket to the 2A state tennis championships by winning the district title. They went into the district tournament as the No. 2 seed, but upended Kalli Willet and Allison Manion of East Valley for the championship, 6-1, 3-6, 5-4. Hampton and Roylance were first-team, all-CWAC selections and now they’ll take a run at the best 2A players in the state at the Nordstrom Tennis Center May 25-26.