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Yakima Herald-Republic
Yakima Herald-Republic
PUBLISHED ON Thursday, May 22, 2008 AT 12:00AM

State tennis -- Bulldogs hoping success continues
by Jerrel Swenning
Yakima Herald-Republic

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YAKIMA -- This past weekend the Ellensburg boys and girls tennis teams eyed a repeat of their 2007 district performances.

This week at state? Not so much.

The Bulldogs successfully defended the CWAC district team titles at Ephrata and qualified six players -- two girls singles players, a boys doubles team and a girls duo -- for the Class 2A state tournament beginning Friday at the University of Washington's Nordstrom Tennis Center.

They're focusing on making some noise at state, not going quietly like last year when they sent two girls teams, a boys duo and singles player. A third female tandem was forced to stay home by a WIAA rule that allows just two teams of the same gender from the same school to qualify.

Ellensburg managed just six points, four for the boys and two for the girls in tying for 10th and 11th place, respectively.

"We have been talking about how we need to attack that a bit differently mentally," said Bulldogs coach Mark Morrill, who shared the CWAC girls coach of the year with East Valley's Cory Bemis.

Experience will be in Ellenburg's favor. All those that qualified this year went last year -- just in a much different arrangement:

* Sophomore Aaron Porter, a singles qualifier last spring teamed with fellow 10th-grader Josiah Jackson to qualify. Jackson made it in 2007 in doubles with then-senior Ryan James.

* Katie Kelleher, who knocked off defending champ Casie Snyder of East Valley in the district final, and Nadia Weiner both advanced in doubles last year but are going solo this year.

* Mercedes Chandler and Amy Anderson, partners for Kelleher and Weiner a year ago, teamed to make it this time.

"We've been working on that all year and we thought we came up with a good lineup," Morrill said. "They all made it to state so we'll see how it works from here."

Snyder makes her third trip to state and has finished fourth and fifth, respectively, the past two years. The senior had been unbeaten in CWAC play until dropping a three-set match to Kelleher.

Selah senior Cody Alliston also is making a third trip to state, all of them in doubles and this year with David Teske. Kevin Bertelson qualified in singles for the Vikings.

Grandview will send three players -- district champion Rodrigo Fajardo and the team of Christine Penwell and Sydney Mottice, who made it last year, and Wapato's Rogelio Ruiz earned a state berth as the district runner-up.

CLASS 3A: The defending state champion West Valley girls team will be represented at state by the team of Brittany Gjestrum and Shae Oswalt, who took third at regionals last week. Sophomore Alexis Filliol, the 2007 state singles champ, was upset at regionals.


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