Sports

Eagles will play for state tennis crowns in 4 of 5 finals

The three-time defending state champion West Eagles will contend for titles in four of the five finals matches Saturday at the state high school tennis championships.

No team advanced more players than West on the first day of competition Friday at The Alaska Club East. South and West Valley each boast two finalists and Chugiak and Juneau each have one.

South will battle for championships in both singles finals. Joseph Hemry will face two-time runner-up Jared Lees of West Valley in boys singles and sister Christine Hemry will take on Merryn Daniel of West in girls singles.

Daniel was one of Friday's surprises. She knocked off second-seeded Emilia Helms-Leslie of Lathrop in a tightly contested first-round match, rallying to win 4-6, 7-6, 1-0.

The day's other surprises came in the semifinal round of boys doubles, where the No. 1 and No. 2 seeded teams both lost.

Chugiak's Max Haines and Daniel Ogden took down the top-seeded West Valley team of Brandon Vanlandingham and Brian Ely, and West's Chas Anderson and Seneca Scott upset the second-seeded Service team of Dylan Bruce and Aiden Moon.

In girls doubles, West's Allie Haynes earned a shot at her third straight state championship. After winning two in a row with Katie Brown, who graduated, Haynes will take aim at a third title with a new partner, Ava Lekander, last year's girls singles champion. Haynes and Lekander cruised into the finals, losing only two games in four sets.

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West's other finalists are Elana Fortson and David Woo, who will play West Valley's Trent Chiu and Teresa Sample for the mixed doubles championship.

ASAA/First National Bank

State tennis championships

Alaska Club East

Saturday's finals

1 p.m., boys doubles -- Max Haines/Daniel Ogden (Chugiak) vs. Chas Anderson/Seneca Scott (West)

1 p.m., girls doubles – Ava Lekander/Allie Haynes (West) vs. Sami Good/Erica Hurtte (Juneau)

2 p.m., mixed doubles -- Trent Chiu/Teresa Sample (West Valley) vs. Elana Fortson/David Woo (West)

3 p.m., boys singles -- Jared Lees (West Valley) vs. Joseph Hemry (South)

3 p.m., girls singles – Christine Hemry (South) vs. Merryn Daniel (West)

Friday's results

Boys singles

First round

Jared Lees (West Valley) def. Nicolai Benko (Service) 6-1, 6-0. Eli Neslund (East) def. Derek Stone (Dimond) 6-1, 6-2. Kelson McPherson (Juneau) def. Johnie Burton (Palmer) 7-5, 2-6, 1-0. Joseph Hemry (South) def. Brons Gerrish (West Valley) 6-0, 6-0.

Semifinals

Lees def. Neslund 7-5, 6-0. Hemry def. McPherson 6-0, 6-0.

Girls singles

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First round

Christine Hemry (South) bye. Maddie Baumgarten (West Valley) def. Peyton Johnstone (Colony) 6-1, 6-2. Anita Samuel (Dimond) def. Ripley Campnell (Chugiak) 6-2, 6-2. Merryn Daniel (West) def. Emilia Helms-Leslie (Lathrop) 4-6, 7-6, 1-0.

Semifinals

Hemry def. Baumgarten 6-0, 6-0. Daniel def. Samuel, 7-5, 6-4.

Boys doubles

First round

Brandon Vanlandingham/Brian Ely (West Valley) def. Anton Rieseelbach/Kolby Hoover (Juneau) 6-3, 6-2. Max Haines/Daniel Ogden (Chugiak) def. Jake Roselus/Sam Greenberg (Lathrop) 6-4, 6-4. Chas Anderson/Seneca Scott (West) def. Tom Hanks/Chris Bailey (South) 6-2, 6-2. Dylan Bruce/Aiden Moon (Service) def. Owen Ballos/Michael Crawford (Colony) 6-0, 6-0.

Semifinals

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Haines/Ogden def. Vanlandingham/Ely 6-4, 6-1. Anderson/Scott def. Bruce/Moon 6-3, 6-2.

Girls doubles

First round

Ava Lekander/Allie Haynes (West) def. Anna Kardash/Amara Hackett (Lathrop) 6-0, 6-2. Roslyn McCormack/Piper Laudon (Dimond) def. Leah Bachini/Chelsey Abad (Kodiak) 3-6, 6-2, 1-0. Hibiki Shibata/Maggie Krafft (Chugiak) def. Anastasia Ante/Cheyenne Martinez (Hutchison) 6-1, 6-1. Sami Good/Erica Hurtte (Juneau) def. Felicity Bidwell/Shannon Croft (West) 6-0, 6-0.

Semifinals

Lekander/Haynes def. McCormack/Laudon 6-0, 6-0. Good/Hurtte def. Shibata/Krafft 6-1, 6-4.

Mixed doubles

First round

Trent Chiu/Teresa Sample (West Valley) def. James Kardash/Rachel Jordan (Lathrop) 6-3, 0-6, 1-0. Jed Butikofer/Izzy Larue (Chugiak) def. Michael Conner/Oleksandra Tenditnyk (Colony) 7-6, 6-2. Joseph Kemper/Madie Webster (South) def. Robbie Brewer/Olivia Grant (East) 7-5, 6-0. Elana Fortson/David Woo (West) def. Katherine Kane/Derek Dzinich (Juneau) 6-0, 6-0.

Semifinals

Chiu/Sample def. Butikofer/Larue 6-0, 6-3. Fortson/Woo def. Kemper/Webster 6-1, 7-6.

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