For all that last year’s Class 4A girls state tennis singles final wasn’t, Hannah Gianan of Camas and Angela Schuster of Timberline put on a show this year.
From comebacks to fighting off multiple match points, Saturday’s final at Columbia Basin Racquet Club in Richland had it all.
In the end, the 4A Greater St. Helens League lost its four-year hold on the state title as Schuster defeated Gianan 2-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4.
The past four years the state singles title was held by Skyview’s Sammi Hampton, who finished her career last year with a walkover victory in the final. No match was played.
Enter Gianan, a junior, who had won the state doubles title the past two seasons. Her opponent Schuster lost to Hampton in the first round last year and went on to place fifth.
Both Gianan and Schuster came into the final after a three straight-set victories.
“The only way we were going to win was to execute points, and (Schuster) got to everything and didn’t make any errors,” Camas coach Jonathan Burton said.
Burton said Schuster fought off five match points in the second set, and Gianan held off “six or seven match points” in the third set.
It was still a good day for area tennis players.
Two local doubles teams placed fourth at state.
Union’s Sydney Wallace and Mckenzie Schreiner came back from a set down to beat Hannah Hendricksen and Mary Stoa of Lewis & Clark 4-6, 6-0, 6-2 to place fourth in 4A doubles at Richland.
It’s the second year in a row Wallace, a senior, and Schreiner, a sophomore, medaled as a doubles team, having finished second last year. It is also’s Wallace’s third state doubles medal.
Ridgefield’s Sarah Kaufman and Sophie Bird placed fourth at 2A doubles in Seattle. They also had a three-set comeback to beat Sarah Hamel and Emma Saas of Kingston 4-6, 7-5, 6-3.
In 4A singles at Richland, Mountain View senior Amila Gogalija finished seventh for her second state medal. She lost in the fourth-place match to Ali Topp of Olympia 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.
Columbia River seniors Owen Carlson and Nathan Crary finished eighth in 3A doubles at Kennewick. They lost in the fourth-place match to Mercer Island’s Ben Bethards and Jarod Wong 6-2, 6-4.
