Mead’s Vaughn tops field

Ethan Vaughn is doubly happy being a singles champion.

The Mead senior finally captured the boys No. 1 singles title at the 65th annual Inland Empire Tennis Tournament on his home court in his third try. That alone made him a happy camper.

“I was even happier because of who I played in the final,” Vaughn said. “The guy I played, Eric Braun (senior from Hellgate High in Missoula), is going to be my teammate next year on the tennis team at the University of Montana.”

Vaughn, a three-time state tournament veteran, captured the title in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2, to highlight the longest-running high school tennis tournament in the nation.

While most of the tournament’s entrants played in schizophrenic weather outdoors, Vaughn was able to cruise to his title in back-to-back games played indoors at Whitworth.

“I was lucky – the weather didn’t bother me all that much,” he said. “It never did affect one of my matches, and then playing the last two matches inside was nice.”

Vaughn wasn’t the only singles champion to avoid playing in the day’s ever-changing weather – where it would rain one minute, turn to bright sunshine the next and then do both at the same time.

The girls No. 1 singles showdown between North Central Slovakian exchange student Karin Chymcakova, the tourney’s No. 1 seed, and Gonzaga Prep state veteran Anna Lambert, the No. 2 seed, will be played May 9 at North Central.

With rain delays pushing the tournament later in the day, Lambert asked to play the final at a later date so she could make the G-Prep senior prom on time and Chymcakova agreed.

“Because of rainouts there are make-up matches this week, so they agreed to play it the following week,” girls tournament director and Mead girls coach Lynn Coleman said.

Chymcakova won a Greater Spokane League match with Lambert early in the season, 6-2, 6-3.

Mead’s Katijene Stime, who lost to Lambert in the semifinals, withdrew from the tournament, leaving Central Valley’s Leslie Ho with the third-place medal.

Mead’s Ali Smith captured the girls No. 2 singles title, outlasting Mary Carpenter of G-Prep in the final.

Hellgate’s No. 1 girls doubles team of Lisa Woerlein and Michelle Thomas needed a third-set comeback to defeat University in the title match. The Titans’ Lauren Archibald and Cailynn Garcia led 4-1 in the third set before the Knights stormed back to win 7-5 in a rubber set.

Hellgate’s Alex Braun, seeded No. 3 going into the tournament, knocked off No. 2 seed Zach Juhre in the semifinals, then upended top-seeded Riley Poppy in the final. Braun’s teammates Will Ballew and Sam Angel won the No. 2 boys doubles tournament, defeating the Ellensburg tandem of Tim Hurson and Luke Rogers in the final, 6-3, 6-2.

Add in third-place finishes in No. 2 girls doubles and No. 2 mixed doubles and it was an impressive tournament for Hellgate, which captured the team title.

“This was our fourth trip over for this tournament and we love it,” coach Greg Robitaille said. “We didn’t come last year because it conflicted with the prom. Our kids had a great tournament – even our mixed doubles. We don’t even play mixed doubles in Montana.

“We do play pretty good tennis in Montana and our kids love to come over to Spokane to play. I’m trying to get a few more of our Montana schools to come over here.”

Tournament director Bill Wagstaff hadn’t tallied team points as the Knights were preparing to leave Mead, but handed the Knights the team trophy anyway.

“Look at their kids,” he said. “I think every one of them has a medal around their neck. There’s no way anyone is going to pass them in team points.”

Hellgate finished with 133 team points. Mead was second with 107 and G-Prep third with 101.