MILL CREEK — Lauren Summers beat all-comers at the Western Conference South Division meet May 10-12 at Jackson High School.
The Meadowdale senior clinched the South’s top seed at the 4A District 1 tournament with a 6-1, 3-6, 6-0 win over Everett’s Bethany Stanton on May 12.
After dominating the first set, Summers struggled to keep the ball in play in the second set. But she came back focused and confident to quickly close out the match in the third set.
“Between sets I calmed down and started hitting good again,” Summers said. “I was trying to keep the ball in.”
Summers improved to 19-1 with the win over Stanton. Her only loss this season came to Shorewood’s Samantha Lim. The district tournament got underway May 18 at Stanwood High School and continues today (Friday, May 19) and tomorrow (Saturday, May 20).
Summers, whose goal is to earn a third consecutive trip to the state meet in Vancouver, May 26-27, focused on tennis this spring. A competitive alpine skier, Summers juggled the two sports in recent years.
“It’s given me more time to play every day,” she said of her decision to take a break from skiing.
Summers cruised to easy victories in her first two matches but ran into Shorewood’s Kari Fiske in the semifinals.
Summers, who called Fiske the toughest opponent she faced in the tournament, won the first set 6-3 but fell behind 3-2 in the second set when rain suspended play.
When play resumed, Fiske extended her lead to 5-2 before Summers roared back to win five consecutive games and take the match 6-3, 7-5.
Summers said her backhand helped her rally back and take the match.
“She was hitting corner-to-corner making me run,” Summers said.
Also qualifying for the district tournament, were the Edmonds-Woodway’s doubles team of Ikue Maeda and Esther Ham, who nabbed the South’s third seed with a 6-0, 6-2 win over Shorewood’s Elle MacGeorge and Emily Sands.
Maeda and Ham made it to the semifinals with a 6-0, 7-6 (8-6) win over MacGeorge and Sands before losing 6-3, 6-7, 6-2 to Jackson’s Katie Sieck and Krystal Osborne.
The Edmonds-Woodway duo battled back and beat teammates Shannon McCleary and Lindsay Clark, 6-3, 6-4 to clinch a district spot.
Meadowdale’s Kendall Finzer and Stephanie Eli finished fifth and are the doubles alternate to the district tournament. Edmonds-Woodway’s Erika Korpi, who made it to the semifinals before losing to Stanton and Jackson’s Linda Kung, is the singles alternate.
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