Prep tennis: Lewis and Clark siblings top seeds for 72nd Inland Empire Tennis Tournament

By the time the area’s biggest high school tennis tournament crowns its champions on Saturday afternoon, Lewis and Clark High is expected to have sibling singles champions.

The 72nd annual Inland Empire Tennis Tournament seeded the Tigers’ brother-sister combination of Kyle and Brook Fager as the top seeds in their respective No. 1 singles divisions.

The tournament, featuring 53 schools of all sizes from around the area and 761 individual players, began Friday on many of the area’s high school tennis courts and concludes today, with semifinals and final-round play scheduled for Mead High School.

The tournament seeds the top four players in its No. 1 and No. 2 singles fields and the top four teams in most of its doubles brackets.

Kyle Fager, a former state doubles champion who placed fourth at last year’s State 4A singles tournament, heads a field that includes Gonzaga Prep’s Tyler Timperman, who placed at the state doubles tournament a year ago, as the No. 4 seed. Will Thompson from Hanford is the No. 2 seed and Wenatchee’s Jack Yount earned the No. 3 seed.

LC’s Jacob Huppin drew the No. 1 seed for a boys No. 2 singles bracket that features a strong local contingent. Luke Andrewjeski of Wenatchee is the No. 2. Central Valley’s Trystan Sampilo is the No. 3 and Pullman’s Jake Pru at No. 4.

Richland’s top doubles team of Nathan Lipton and Grey Evans earned the top seed in the No. 1 doubles division. The Ferris duo of Adrian Gahvarehchi and Andrew Walker is seeded to meet them in the finals. Collin Hendricks and Micah Larson of Chelan are No. 3 and G-Prep’s John Heath and Ben Schemmel are No. 4.

Brooke Fager, who helped with the State 4A doubles title a year ago, and G-Prep’s Lizzie Marcinkowski earned the Nos. 1 and 2 seeds in the No. 1 girls singles division. Nicole Rasmussen from West Valley (Yakima) and Celeste Pe of Hanford are the Nos. 3 and 4, respectively.

University’s Katie Smithgall and Wenatchee’s Hannah Stonas are seeded No. 1 and 2 in the No 2 girls singles division.

U-Hi’s top doubles team, Sophie Orndorff and Micki Thies, are the top seeds in girls No. 1 doubles. Anna Davenport and Kaylynn Noyd of Wenatchee are No. 2, with the Sandpoint pair of Laney Search and Khloe Kyllonen at No. 3 and Brooke Gooddwin and Kjersti Strandness at No. 4.

The tournament features two flights of singles play, three of doubles and, in a popular departure for Washington high schools, multiple flights of mixed doubles play – an event that gives an advantage to Idaho high schools, where mixed doubles is part of competition.