A postponement due to Tuesday's rainy weather didn't stop the Northland Prep girls tennis team from reaching the Division III state semifinals.
Defeating the No. 6 Scottsdale Prep Spartans 5-1 on Wednesday afternoon at the Northern Arizona University tennis center, the No. 3 Northland Prep Spartans advanced to face the No. 2 Yuma Catholic Shamrocks at the Paseo Racquet Center in Glendale at 2 p.m. on Friday.
Northland Prep took five of the six singles matches from Scottsdale Prep, forgoing the need for doubles play between the two teams.
All five wins for Northland Prep came in straight sets, with sophomore Grace Kim defeating Scottsdale Prep's Noelle Oh 6-3, 6-3 on court 1. Oh reached the D-III singles state finals as the division's top seed before falling in the championship match.
Senior Amelia Raab defeated Nadine Clerici 6-2, 7-5 at No. 2, sophomore Grace Daab beat Gabriella Clerici 7-5, 6-2 at No. 3, sophomore Sophia Shneyderman won 6-1, 6-0 against Kate Guymon on court 5, and sophomore Kylie Cook earned a 6-0, 6-2 victory against Katelyn Ruyle at No. 6.
Northland Prep had already defeated Scottsdale Prep on April 11 in Scottsdale, taking down the team ranked atop Division III at the time and holding onto its own undefeated record.Â
A trio of Spartans players also competed in the Valley this past weekend as the D-III singles and doubles championships were held at the Paseo Racquet Center in Glendale.
Raab and Daab reached the quarterfinals of the D-III doubles tournament, earning a pair of victories in the 32-team bracket. Seeded No. 5, Raab and Daab cruised past their opening-round opponents of Charlotte Graham and Phoebe Tarnutzer from Safford with a 6-1, 6-0 victory before reaching the quarterfinals and getting a 6-0, 6-0 victory against the pairing of Chloe Dammeyer and Paloma Smith from Yuma Catholic.Â
Meeting the No. 4 seed of Mary Bartolino and Zara Campbell, Raab and Daab had their run ended on a 6-3, 6-2 final score.
In the singles bracket, No. 3-seeded Kim and senior Akiko Palmer both earned first-round victories. Palmer edged out Isabel Polakowski-Gonzalez, Seton Catholic's top singles player, with a 7-6, 4-6, 10-8 victory before ending her run with a default loss against fifth-seeded Grace Lanning from Yuma Catholic.
Kim beat Pearl Kulvatonyou of Pusch Ridge, 6-1, 6-1, to open the tournament, and nearly repeated the score with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Satomi Small from Chandler Prep in the second round. Matched up with the No. 6 seed, Angela Soria from Scottsdale Christian, Kim moved into the semifinals with a 6-3, 6-4 win. The sophomore's run in the tournament ended there, falling to the No. 2 seed and eventual state champion, Maya Litt of Rancho Solano Prep, 6-4, 6-1.
Dorado 6, Eagles 0
After defeating the No. 11-seeded Prescott Badgers for the second time in 13 days, sixth-seeded Flagstaff girls tennis fell to Canyon del Oro, the No. 3 seed, Tuesday afternoon in Tucson in the D-II state tournament.
Opening with singles play, the Dorado swept the Eagles to clinch the match and the three doubles matches were not played.
On court 3, junior Annika Didovic battled back from a first-set 6-3 loss with a 6-0 second-set victory of her own. Moving on to a third-set tiebreaker, Annika Didovic dropped the deciding set to Canyon del Oro senior Jordan Crawford 10-3. Eagles senior Ana Drinen dropped the opening set 6-1 and hung around in the second with Canyon del Oro junior Emma Bartuff before falling 7-5.Â
Four Eagles also competed over the weekend in the D-II singles and doubles brackets at the Paseo Racquet Center in Glendale.
Seeded No. 5, Flagstaff's pairing of senior Kaitlyn Barr and Annika Didovic made a run into the D-II quarterfinals with a pair of straight-set victories. Opening up against Saguaro's pairing of Maycee Humphreys and Berlin Flores, Barr and Didovic won 6-3, 6-2. Paired up against the duo of Alder Aten and Juliette Gundermann from Prescott, Barr and Didovic dominated the second-round match for a 6-1, 6-1 victory. Notre Dame Prep's pairing of Leila Petelin and Margaux Gruhn, who would go on to secure the state title with a pair of three-set victories, ended the Flagstaff pairing's run in the quarterfinals with a 6-1, 6-2 win.
In the singles tournament, Autumn Didovic and Drinen each won their first-round match before falling in the second round. Didovic beat Dysart's Yen Doan 6-1, 6-1 before falling, 6-1, 6-1, to Kusuma Marella from Saguaro. Drinen knocked out Maddie Kumar from Catalina Foothills with a 6-3, 6-0 victory, and then she dropped her second-round match to Clare Cooley of ALA Gilbert North 6-1, 6-2.
Boys tennis
Four local tennis players competed at the D-II and D-III singles and doubles state tournaments over the weekend.
For Flagstaff High School, junior August Fahy competed in the D-II singles championship tourney, while sophomore Kieran Hawkins and freshman Wylie Carlson entered the doubles competition.
Matched up against the pairing of Tristyn Abbot and Daniel Fan from Arcadia in the opening round, Flagstaff's pair bowed out early. Fahy also exited in the first round but did so in a battle against Connor Brown, D-II's No. 7 seed from Lee Williams. Brown opened the match with a 6-3 first-set win, but Fahy forced Brown into a tiebreaker in the second set before coming up just short, 7-6.
For Basis Flagstaff, freshman Karis Lee competed in the singles tournament, losing to Hunter Lutz of St. David 7-6, 6-1.
Beach volleyball
Hosted at Casteel High School in Queen Creek, the D-II pairs state tournament began on Monday, with two local teams entered into the bracket.
Coconino High School's senior duo of Ava Gray and Lucy Stiegler faced Arcadia's pairing of Brenna Satran and Priya Jain in Monday's opening round, with the winner moving on to face the No. 1 seed from Saguaro High School. Though Gray and Stiegler bounced back from a 21-18 first-set loss with a 21-19 victory in the second game, the Panthers' pairing dropped the deciding set 15-6.
Given a bye in the opening round thanks to a No. 5 seed in the bracket, Flagstaff's pair of seniors, Sophie Krassner and Macie Moseng, fell to Salpointe Catholic's Amelia Bartfalvi and Chloe Zhang 21-12, 21-16 on Tuesday.