BREMERTON — The Olympic Peninsula has a pair of doubles’ tennis champions headed to the 1A and 2A state tennis meets next weekend.
The Chimacum girls team of Renee Woods and Grace Yaley won the West Central District III 1A doubles championship on Thursday at the Sprinker Recreation Center in Tacoma.
On Friday, the Sequim girls’ tandem of Jessica Dietzman and Kalli Wiker won their second straight WCD III 2A doubles championship at the Kitsap Tennis Center in Bremerton.
Also qualifying for state on Friday was Port Angeles singles’ player Summer Olsen, who finished fourth in the 2A tournament.
Joining the girls at the state tennis tournaments will be the Sequim teams of Thomas Hughes and Blake Wiker (Kalli’s brother) and Liam Payne and Damon Little, and the Port Angeles duo of Bo Bradow and Milo Whitman and singles player Hayden Woods.
Sequim coach Mark Textor said it’s hard to predict how well Dietzman and Kalli Wiker will do based on their big run last year at the state tournament in which they came within one match of winning the state championship.
“It’s really tough just to get one win at state. Last year, they played fantastic. It’s an honor to qualify for state,” Textor said.
“We’re planning to play hard and see what happens,” he said. “We’re optimistic we can get a few wins at state.”
Chimacum’s Woods and Yaley first beat a Vashon duo 6-1, 6-1 on Wednesday, then beat a Charles Wright team 6-2, 6-2 in the semifinals and another Charles Wright tandem 6-3, 6-3 in the district championship.
Dietzman and Wiker, who finished second in the state last year after winning district, beat Lori Apolonio and Diana Caoagdan of Renton in their first match 6-0, 6-0, beat Grace Hansen and Jamison Jacobsen of North Kitsap 6-2, 6-1. In the championship match Dietzman and Wiker beat Stella Fosberg and Chloe Watson of Highline 6-3, 7-5.
Textor said that final match against Fosberg and Watson was tough.
“The girls played great. They were tested. They were down in that second set 5-4 and won three in a row on a really good team,” Textor said.
Blake Wiker and Hughes were the boys’ district champions in the fall. Wiker and Payne will have a very busy week. They are first playing in the state 2A golf championship in Liberty Lake on Tuesday and Wednesday, then will return to Seattle to play in the state 2A tennis tournament beginning Friday.
“Unfortunately, I don’t get to work with them as much as I would like, but they’ve been playing tennis on their own,” Textor said.
Olsen won two matches to qualify for state. She beat a Highline player 6-2, 6-2, then beat Priti Ahya of Lindbergh in a very tough match 4-6, 6-2, 10-4 to make state.
In the 1A meet, Madison Hess Of Port Townsend finished fifth and Makaela Caskey of Chimacum came in eighth.
The state 1A tournament will be held at the Yakima Tennis Club, while the 2A tournament is at the Nordstrom Tennis Center at the University of Washington.
Sequim’s Jessica Dietzman, left and Kalli Wiker teamed up for their second straight WCD III 2A championship. The duo finished second at state last year.
Mark Krulish/Kitsap News Group Port Angeles’ Summer Olsen won two matches, including one that went to a 10-point super-tiebreaker and finished fourth at the WCD III 2A tournament as a singles’ player, qualifying for the state 2A tournament in Seattle next weekend.
