Mead’s Stimes finish 2nd

Mead’s Britta and Katijene Stime came a victory short of a doubles championship, losing to Kamiakin’s Ali Welch and Demie Warner at the Tri-City Court Club in Kennewick, 6-2, 7-5.

The Panthers had beaten the Braves duo a week ago, in two sets, in the regional semifinal.

On Saturday, Warner and the 5-foot-10 Welch were an imposing force at the net.

“They’re definitely improved from when we played them last time,” Britta Stime said.

The Stimes even tried playing both players on the baseline when the Braves were serving to counter their opponents’ strong net game.

“We definitely needed a different strategy,” Britta Stime said.

It didn’t turn the tide.

To make the final, the Panthers survived a 3-hour, 15-minute semifinal, outdoors in near 90-degree heat at Kamiakin High School.

They beat defending doubles champs Julia Galbraith and Nell Shonnard of Bellarmine Prep, 6-2, 5-7, 6-4.

The win was revenge for the Stimes, who lost to Galbraith and Shonnard in last year’s quarterfinals.

It was a long, hot morning match that included a request for line judges, and some discussions with a tournament official about delay tactics by the Mead players after numerous strategy discussions between points.

“It definitely played a factor, physically and emotionally,” Britta Stime said of the exhausting semi. “We were both dehydrated.”

The lengthy semi delayed their doubles final by 45 minutes, with the Stimes getting only one hour of rest in between. They spent the time in a nearby grocery store to cool down.

Saturday’s second-place finish is the fourth state tournament doubles medal for Britta Stime, a senior going to Gonzaga next fall – sixth place as a freshman, and champion as a sophomore with partner Katrina Schwab. The Stime sisters finished fourth last year.

Mead’s Ethan Vaughn fell one win short of placing in boys singles. The junior lost in the consolation semifinals, 6-3, 6-1 to Jackson’s Michael Chamerski.

Vaughn finished fourth in doubles as a sophomore.

Richland won the 4A boys team title.

Kamiakin, Decatur and Newport shared the girls team title.

Kentwood junior Max Manthou won his third consecutive singles title, beating Matt Overland of Kentridge 6-2, 7-6.

Wenatchee’s Clint Vidano and Hudson Barnhart won the boys doubles, beating Newport’s Steven Miyauchi and Zach Chen 7-6, 6-2.

Sophomore Meghan Cassens of Decatur won the girls singles title beating Antonia Liebenow of Lake Stevens 6-1, 6-1.

•3A: Junior Katie Bates and senior Kellee Bates of Mt. Spokane went 1-1 in consolation-bracket matches to take sixth place in the tournament at the Vancouver Tennis Complex. They defeated a Meadowdale team in two sets and then fell to a team from Union in two sets.

•2A: Junior Elise Rooney of Clarkston lost in her semifinal to eventual champion Lindsey Newman of South Whidbey before bouncing back to take third place with a three-set win over MacKenzie McWilliams of Hockinson at the tournament at the Nordstrom Tennis Center in Seattle.

In boys doubles, junior Garret Mullen and senior Chris Chappell of West Valley scored a three-set victory to reach the fourth/sixth-place match, where they lost in two sets to a Sehome team, which had defeated Clarkston pair Drew Adams, a freshman, and Derek Young, a junior, in two sets.

Clarkston junior Dustin McConnell lost in the semifinals in two sets but came back to win third place with a two-set win.

•1A: Freeman defended its girls title at the Yakima Tennis Club behind sisters Lea and Maya Jansen, who met in the singles final won by Lea 6-4, 7-5. Both had advanced to the final with two-set victories.

Seniors Rachel Sugden and Gina Sprint gave Lakeside a fourth-place team finish by reaching the doubles final, where they lost in two sets to Zori and Larisa Fossum of Naches. Sprint and Sugden advanced to the final with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 victory over a Cashmere duo.

In boys play, the Valley Christian doubles team of Stephen Eastburn and Reid Wells, both seniors, fell in two sets in a consolation semifinal.