Shorecrest wins WESCO 3A District Title

Robert Mann, Anna Burke, Bella Saunders, Kate Ivens, Sophie Ivens

By Rob Mann

Wednesday, May 16, 2018 was the second day of the Tennis District Tournament at Arlington HS.

Wednesday was a battle where everyone came ready to play. All the Shorecrest girls played in tight matches and fought for every point.

Bella Saunders and Sophies Ivens (SC) were rolling in the first set, completely dominating Tessa Rugg and Katri Shields from Snohomish in the finals.

Snohomish made some adjustments in the second set and turned the tables on Shorecrest. The deciding third set went the distance. Sophie and Bella had two match points on their serve, but Snohomish found a way to stay in it. Shorecrest had a third match point when Snohomish was serving, but Tessa from Snohomish found a way to serve two of her best serves in the entire match to take the third set to a tie-breaker.

WesCo 3A doubles champions

Sophie and Bella decided enough was enough and won 7 straight points in the tie-breaker to become the WesCo 3A doubles champions. Final Score Shorecrest defeated Snohomish 6-2, 2-6. 7-6 (7-0).

Kate Ivens in front of singles bracket
2nd place in singles

Kate Ivens (SC) did an amazing job digging deep and hitting numerous balls with laser-like precision and out of this world pace. Her adversary Catherine Michelutti from Squalicum stayed calm and exercised lots of patience in the finals match. Catherine watched Kate hit many glorious winners past her.

Catherine came off the court and stated "that was a really tough match", which is a huge compliment because she had sailed through all of her other matches in the tournament. Unfortunately, Catherine defeated Kate 5-7, 6-1, 6-2, but 2nd place is awesome considering that Kate is only a freshman.

Anna Burke slicing a backhard

Anna Burke (SC) had to play Olivia Olson from Edmonds-Wooday in the consolation bracket. Four girls were fighting for the one remaining spot to State. This was a must win for Anna. She came out strong in the first set, but had some unlucky breaks towards the end and dropped the first set.

She regained her composure in the 2nd set and beat Olivia by hitting driving passing shots and slicing. These two ended up in a third set and sadly things didn't go Anna's way. Olivia defeated Anna 7-5, 4-6, 6-3.

Anna's win on the first day did help Shorecrest to secure the District Tournament Team Title.

Bella, Sophie, and Kate will continue on to the State Tournament next week on May 25th and May 26th in Kennewick at the Tri-City Court Club and Kamiakin High School.

Also, Faiz Khan, Reed Tangeman, and Ben Silber from Shorecrest, who qualified in the fall, will be going to State as well.