LaLone returns to state

Published 11:13 pm Thursday, May 27, 2010

When the postseason rolls around, there is no more valuable commodity than experience.

Fortunately for many of the local athletes headed to this week’s state high school tennis tournaments, they’re not lacking in that department.

Take Megan LaLone of Stanwood, for example.

LaLone picked up valuable state experience as a freshman at last year’s Class 4A state meet. She finished fourth, with her only defeat coming against the eventual state singles champion, Meghan Cassens of Decatur.

LaLone will try to improve on that placing when the 2010 state tournament begins today in Kennewick. “I think with the girls in 4A … it’s going to be a good tournament,” Stanwood coach Trudy Abrams said.

LaLone plays year-round and has impressed her coach with her work ethic.

“She’ll get up at 4:45 and play tennis,” Abrams said. “She’s very dedicated to get better and better every day. Very seldom is there a day that goes by that she doesn’t play tennis … her goal is to be the best she can be.”

Like LaLone, Cassens returns this weekend. The junior is in the opposite half of the bracket and won’t face LaLone unless they both reach Saturday’s title match. If that’s the case, Cassens will see a different player than a year ago, Abrams said.

“(LaLone) is a lot stronger,” Abrams said. “She’s stronger mentally and physically and just her style of play has improved a lot.”

LaLone is joined at state by a pack of Warriors. Edmonds-Woodway has two doubles teams and a singles player headed to Kennewick.

“I thought we had a good team,” Warriors head coach Dan Crist said. “I don’t think you ever expect to qualify that many kids. That’s probably setting your expectations a little high.”

Seniors Amanda Waldron and Michelle Nelson are making their third trip to state. The duo, state alternates their freshman season, play singles in the regular season, but combine to form a doubles dream team in the postseason.

Waldron and Nelson benefit from practicing against another state-caliber doubles team in Sophie Roben and Sarah Fine. The two teams finished first and second at the district tournament and find themselves on opposite sides of the state bracket. They won’t face each other unless both teams place in the top six.

“Nothing would make us happier than that,” Crist said of an all-Warriors championship match. “We just had our banquet on Sunday and the kids talked about it then.”

In the postseason, Waldron and Nelson have had Roben and Fine’s number, beating them in the league championship and 6-3, 6-1 in the district final.

E-W will be represented in the singles bracket by Jane Hong, who is making her first trip to state. Hong, like LaLone, is a sophomore who plays tennis year-round. “If she’s playing strong, if she’s playing confident, then she can do well,” Crist said.

In the Class 2A ranks, South Whidbey junior Riley Newman is back to defend the boys singles title he won last year

“Assuming it’s the same group of kids — most of them were young — he’s got a good chance of repeating,” South Whidbey coach Tom Kramer said. “There are some very good players. (Sehome’s) Will Topp, for example, is back and in good form. It’s just a brand-new day on Friday.”

Topp appears to be Newman’s strongest competition. Also a junior, he played Newman in the title match last year, as well as during league play and the district tournament.

“Will tends to win the match during the season and Riley comes up big in the playoffs,” Kramer said. “I hope that stays true to form.”

One difference from last year: Newman now carries the weight of being a defending state champ.

“That can be quite a bit of pressure,” Kramer said. “It’s easier to climb up the mountain then try to keep everybody off the top.

“He’s a good athlete and in pretty decent shape, so I think he’ll be OK. Especially when he gets past the first couple rounds. He tends to get better as the tournament goes on.”

The South Whidbey girls team will be represented at state by the district championship doubles team of Shannon Craig and Julia Iverson, and by singles player Reilly O’Sullivan, who placed third at districts.

All three are seniors looking to end their final tennis season on a memorable note.

“(Craig and Iverson) have had, so far, a perfect season,” Kramer said. “They’ve played well. If they continue to play well, they should be in the hunt on the second day.”

O’Sullivan, who Kramer calls “a bit of a surprise,” seems to be peaking at just the right time.

“Reilly’s a great young lady,” Kramer said. “She’s quick, athletic and playing smarter tennis right now. Good athletes tend to rise to the occasion and she certainly did the last part of her senior year.”