TUMWATER — Centralia’s two doubles teams and W.F. West’s top duo and top solo player all stayed alive after the first day of action here Wednesday in the District 4 2A Girls Tennis Tournament, with W.F. West’s Isabel Vander Stoep and Kyla Richards winning twice to seal a spot in the State 2A tournament.
Centralia’s top-seeded Jaycee Foster and Hayden Blaser beat Ridgefield’s Kylei Harrison and Emily Persons, 7-6, 6-3, in the first round, but lost to a different Spudder squad — Sarah Kaufman and Sophie Bird — in the semifinals.
On the flip side, Centralia’s Sydney Creel and Hannah Jeffries lost to Kaufman and Bird in the first round, then beat Washougal's Haley Briggs and Sami Anderson, 6-1, 6-2 to stay alive.
Both Tiger duos will play in consolation semifinals at 9 a.m.
W.F. West’s Payton Rothlin made quick work of Ridgefield's Rena Jones, winning the pigtail match, 6-2, 6-3 to proceed into the tournament. R.A. Long's Reagan Swier managed to defeat Rothlin, 1-6, 6-1, 6-1, only for Rothlin to score a victory over Swier's fellow teammate Natalie Wallace in a 6-3, 6-2 match.
Rothlin had just recently made the switch from doubles to singles in the postseason, earning W.F. West coach Jack State's praise for her adjustments.
"Payton has just been playing great tennis," State said. "She's been a doubles player almost all year long and she's switched over for these last four or five matches. She has just done an excellent job."
Rothlin is set to go head-to-head with Tumwater's Nicole Howard today.
Vander Stoep and Richards defeated both of the pairs they faced, starting with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Hudson's Bay's Nala Comstock and Avery Honaker. The Bearcat duo then went on to trump Washougal's Haley Briggs and Sami Anderson, 6-1, 6-3, sealing a berth into the state tournament. Vander Stoep and Richards are slated to face Ridgefield's Sarah Kaufman and Sophie Bird in the finals today.
