Sears, Doughty make it to state in tennis

SPOKANE VALLEY — Emmalee Doughty and Olivia Sears teamed up to qualify for the state 1B/2B tennis tournament, set for May 23–24 in Yakima.

Doughty and Sears qualified in girls doubles after a grueling Saturday at the District tournament at West Valley High School, Saturday, May 17 in Spokane Valley.

“Both days we had the last match played,” Newport Coach Brandon McDaniel says. The previous Saturday was the first day of the district tournament played at East Valley High School, May 10.

Their first match last Saturday was against top ranked Freeman for the championship.

Doughty and Sears played well, McDaniel says, but weren’t as consistent as they needed to be, losing to Freeman in two sets 6-0, 6-3.

“That put them in a playoff spot for our second state allocation,” he says.

They played Chewelah, who they had beat in the semi-finals to get the championship. In that match, they split the first two sets before winning the tiebreaker, so they knew the match would be competitive.

“They came out firing on all cylinders and easily won the first set 6-1,” McDaniel says. The pair played tight into the second set, but ended up losing that one 6-4.

“They just got a little bit too loose and couldn’t get the momentum back, so we were back in a dog fight for the third set,” McDaniel says.

They had a 4-2 lead in the third set and were looking to take the win when Chewelah won five straight points to tie the set at 5-5.

Doughty and Sears broke Chewelah’s serve on a hardfought game and went up 6-5, with Sears set to serve.

“Olivia found her serve at the perfect time, hitting her first serve each point and Chewelah never got the ball back into play,” Mc-Daniel says. “Four straight serves gave us the game, set and match.”

McDaniel was proud of the duo. “They have fought hard all year and it was great to be able to see them come through and see what the state tournament is going to feel like,” he says. “The state berth also gives them first team all-league honors. The Chewelah girls and ours had a great deal of respect for each other and shared hugs and tears at the end. It was a pretty special moment for them.”

Marisa Dahl placed fourth in the tournament in girls singles after losing to St George’s.

“She is going to be a force next year and grew a ton this year to get the fourth seed in the tournament,” McDaniel says.

Preston Davis, another singles player, was one win short of making it to state this year. He also lost to a St. George’s player. He will receive second team allleague honors, McDaniel says.