Top seeds roll through first two rounds
The girls’ state high school tennis tournament began Friday at the Oklahoma City Tennis Center. Here are three takeaways from Friday’s first two rounds.
Doubles trouble
Normally, the best player at the state high school tennis tournament is an individual singles champion, but that may not be the case this year.
Jenks’ Carrington Hessen is considered by many the top girls’ high school player in the state, but she is competing on the No. 1 doubles team for the Trojans.
She opted to play doubles in high school tennis because of her heavy schedule of individual competition in the United States Tennis Association.
It makes for a very strong No. 1 doubles field in Class 6A.
Hessen and partner Marisa Stonis are undefeated this season and the top seed in No. 1 doubles in Class 6A. They advanced to the semifinals on Saturday along with squads from Edmond North, Deer Creek and Edmond Memorial, the next three seeds.
Memorial’s No. 1 doubles team of Anagrace Boggs and Olivia Orgill will face Jenks in the semifinals. In other semifinal, North’s duo of Gardner Oesterle and Mikayla Stewart will meet Deer Creek’s Sindhya Atturu and Paige Ludlam.
Alice Hsu, the Huskies’ No. 1 singles player, easily advanced to the semifinal on Saturday where she will meet topseed Maddie Shelley of Bartlesville.
Edmond North and Bishop Kelley, the defending state champion, are considered the favorites for the team title in Class 6A. The Huskies are looking for their first state title since 2016. It will be a battle of underclassmen in one 5A No. 1 singles semifinal on Saturday morning.
Sophomore and No. 3 seed Sofia Acuna of Classen SAS will meet freshman and No. 2 seed Jasmine Crain of Heritage Hall at 10:45 a.m.
Acuna, who was the Class 4A singles state runner-up last year, didn’t lose a game in her two matches on Friday. Acuna defeated Jaylen Heckert of Lawton MacArthur in the first round and Ava Bolen of Ada in the quarter-finals 6-0, 6-0.
Crain, a freshman, beat Molly Andrews of Claremore 6-0, 6-1 and then Paetn Mitchell of Ardmore 6-3, 6-0.
Acuna and Crain have not faced each other this season. Ivy Wilson of Tulsa Metro Christian is the No. 1 seed and advanced to the semifinals Friday without losing a game. Willson, a junior, will face Kendal Blevins of Cascia Hall in the other semifinal. Blevins also did not lose a game in her first two matches.
Cascia Hall, the defending state champ in 5A, advanced both singles players and double teams into the semifinals and is the heavy favorite to win the title again.
Heritage Hall’s No. 1 doubles team of Lily Plaster and Grace Shapard advanced to Saturday’s semifinals. Plaster is a defending state champion at No. 1 doubles.
Carl Albert’s Brylee Toney, the No. 4 seed at No. 2 singles, advanced to the semifinals where she will meet top-seed Lauren Irwin of Cascia Hall on Saturday.
A Dutch sweep?
Defending state champ Holland Hall is the team to beat again in Class 4A.
The Dutch dominated last year’s state tournament, taking titles at No. 2 singles, No. 1 doubles and No. 2 doubles. Holland Hall is the top seed in all four events at this year’s state tournament.