STATE TENNIS: Skyview's Andreasen only area player still at 4A state

After three matches and 90-plus-degree temperatures, Skyview freshman Kent Andreasen is the last Vancouver-area tennis player standing at the 4A State Tennis Championships in Kennewick.

Five other Greater St. Helens League entries were eliminated on the first day.

Playing indoors at the Tri-City Court Club, Andreasen outlasted fellow freshman Hunter Woods of Olympia in the consolation quarterfinal, 6-7, 6-3, 6-4.

"It was tiring," Andreasen said. "I just had to stay with him, keep hanging on."

At 4-all in the third set, Andreasen made the key service break in a match with few of them.

Playing his third match and eighth set of the day, Andreasen said, that felt, "Really good. I really had to focus on each of his serves. He had strong serves."

Andreasen followed with a service hold that included an ace and a match-winning forehand passing shot.

Earlier in the day, Andreasen won his opening round match over Gig Harbor’s Max Jiganti, but lost in two sets to Kentwood’s Max Manthou, the two-time defending singles champ.

He will play Jackson High School’s Joseph de la Cruz in today’s consolation semifinals. A win would mean a berth in the fourth/six place consolation final.

Mountain View’s girls doubles team of Julie Christen and Shari Gray let two match points get away in their consolation quarterfinal, and eventually lost to Newport’s Tomomi Matsushita and Karina Vaksman 1-6, 6-2, 7-6 (3).

Playing outdoors at Kamiakin High School, it was their third three-set match on a very hot day.

They opened the tournament with a win over Bellarmine Prep’s Lauren Adams and Maddie Klein.

Christen and Gray then took the opening set from the defending 4A doubles champs, Bellarmine Prep’s Julia Galbraith and Nell Shonnard, before losing their quarterfinal, 2-6, 6-2, 6-1.

In girls singles, Mountain View’s Chaeran Kim could not finish her consolation quarterfinal because of back pain.

She had dropped the first set to Stanwood’s Megan LaLone, 6-2, and was losing 2-0 in the second set when she retired.

It was Kim’s third match of the day.

Kim defeated Wenatachee’s Katie Willis in the opening round 7-6, 6-4.

But Kim was no match for Antonia Liebenow, a 5-foot, 10-inch exchange student from Germany playing for Lake Stevens High School, losing 6-0, 6-3.

"Whoa, man!" the 5-2 Kim said describing her second opponent. "She was really athletic. She was like a pro."

Skyview sophomore Brittany Ellingsen and Mountain View senior Mike Blevins each lost singles two matches and were eliminated on the first day. It was a third state tournament appearance for Blevins, who finished fifth in doubles as a junior.

Mackenzie McWilliams of Hockinson won her first two matches to reach the semifinals of the Class 2A state tournament at the Nordstrom Tennis Center on the University of Washington campus in Seattle.

McWilliams opened with a 1-6, 6-2, 6-3 victory over Jayne Thomas of Burlington-Edison, then defeate Emily Carbaugh of Ellensburg 6-2, 6-3 in the state quarterfinals.

McWilliams will face Tracy Landram of Klahowya in this morning’s semifinals.