LRS tennis team succeed in area matches, prep for Districts

In spite of the inclement weather this season, the Lind-Ritzville/Sprague tennis team has remained competitive in league play and continues to have a large turnout of athletes.

In league competition, the LRS girls’ team has a record of 4-0 while the boys’ team has a record of 3-1.

Head Coach Liz Melville said the line up has been changing on a weekly basis as they work on new combinations of athletes, and also as individual athletes battle injury or illness.

In recent matches, the Broncos faced Odessa-Harrington where the LRS girl’s team earned a 4-1 victory and the boy’s a 2-1 win.

In the No. 1 singles match, Rose Melville defeated Danielle Tebow 6-0, 6-0. Kikyo Sahashi and Leann Harlan both won their singles matches by forfeit.

For the No. 1 doubles match, Broncos Emily Boutain and Claire Kessler faced Alex Soliday and Jordan Larmer. The Odessa-Harrington team earned the win over the Broncos team with scores of 7-5, 6-3.

The No. 2 doubles match win went to Katheran Gingrich and Mariah Arroyo after a forfeit by Odessa-Harrington.

Awson Wheeler started out the matches for the boys’ team in the No. 1 singles competition. Wheeler defeated Tommy Tung 6-1, 6-4, to earn the first win for the boy’s team.

In the No. 2 singles contest, Tyler Eddington faced Jordon Ford. After tough competition, Ford defeated Eddington 6-3, 6-3.

The final win for the Broncos came after a forfeit in the No. 1 doubles contest, giving Zane Swanger and Clayton Miller a win.

On April 25, the Broncos hosted St. George’s for another tough competition. The girls’ team remained victorious, earning a 5-0 win over the Dragons.

Melville continued to find tough competition against Lauren Senske, who battled to push the match into three sets. After a back-and-forth contest, Melville earned the No. 1 singles win 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Megan Buriak continued the Broncos winning trend by defeating Susie Jones 6-1, 6-3 in the No. 2 doubles match. Gingrich also netted a win in the singles competition with a hard fought 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 victory over Maria Madero in No. 3 singles contest.

In the No. 1 doubles contest, Sahashi and Kessler teamed up to earn a 6-4, 6-2 win over Karey Jiang and Mary Bade. Boutain and Harlan rounded out the Broncos’ victories with a win against Caroline He and Grace Generous.

Coach Melville said the St. George’s boys’ team is the toughest in the league, which they proved by not allowing the Broncos to earn a single win.

Wheeler lost the first match against Daniel Zhao, before Nik Chundhry defeated Brandin Layne 6-0, 6-0. The Broncos lost the No. 3 singles match and the No. 2 double match by forfeit.

In the No. 1 doubles match, Swanger and Eddington teamed up, but lost to the superior team of Alex Poppel and Case Martin.

At the end of April, the Broncos went on the road to face Wilbur-Creston. The girls’ returned home with a 4-1 win, while the boys’ team tied with a score of 2-2.

Melville continued on her path to an undefeated season by winning 6-0, 6-0 over Leah Goodwin in the No. 1 singles match. Buriak defeated Tori Debord 6-2, 6-0 in the No. 2 singles match.

Gingrich returned to the court in the No. 3 singles position to earn a 6-4, 6-2 win against Abby Nelson.

The only loss of the day for the Broncos girls’ team came from a hard fought battle in the No. 1 doubles match between Broncos Sahashi and Kessler, against Ireland Corrigan and Camille Byrd.

The No. 2 doubles match went in favor of the Broncos as Boutain and Harlan earned a 6-0, 6-0 victory over Makayla Shoemaker and Maddie Thrams.

Wheeler netted a win for the Broncos’ boy’s team with a 6-2, 7-5 victory over Daniel Harms in the No. 1 singles competition. Swanger changed from doubles to play in the No. 2 singles position, where he suffered a 6-0, 7-5 loss to Jake Mattox.

Layne battled in the No. 3 singles competition to earn a 6-2, 6-1 win against Sev Waters. The Broncos lost the No. 1 doubles match by forfeit.

The Broncos continued on to the Inland Empire Tournament on April 28-29.

The tournament hosts athletes from across eastern Washington, ranging in school divisions from 1B to 4A.

Melville continued in her role as the Broncos No. 1 singles player. She earned a win in her first match of the tournament before losing her second match.

Gingrich played as the No. 2 singles player for the team and lost both of her matches at the tournament. Harlan and Boutain continued to team up as the No. 1 doubles team and also lost both of their matches.

Kim Rios and Jade Rios teamed up as the No. 3 girls doubles team, and lost both matches.

Swanger and Sahashi joined together as the No. 2 mixed doubles team for the Broncos, but also suffered two losses at the tournament.

The Broncos are now gearing up for the District Tournament, set to take place at West Valley High School on May 8 and May 13.

Depending on the success of the athletes at Districts, the players who are able to advance to the Regional Tournament will compete on May 19-20.

The State Tournament is set for May 26-27 in Yakima.