Perkins Loses Game, But Not Her Crown

A/B tennis

Junior Erica Perkins from University Prep had a lot of pressure on her at the State A-B high school tennis tournament at the Spokane Racquet Club Saturday.

The pressure wasn’t to win her third singles title in a row, but not to lose a single game. In her three years at state, the Seattle player had never lost a game at the state tournament.

And then it happened.

Perkins dropped a game in the second set of her semifinal match against Jennifer Poluck of Liberty Bell in a 6-0, 6-1, win and the pressure was off.

That spelled disaster for Perkins’ opponent in the final - Davenport freshman Christine Dickson.

The relaxed Perkins, seeded No. 1, overpowered Dickson, giving up only five points in the first set, en route to a 6-0, 6-0 victory. Perkins now has the opportunity to be the first girl to win the State A-B tennis championships four years in a row.

“People kept asking me if I was mad that I lost a game,” said Perkins, who was mentioned in Sports Illustrated last summer for her unbeaten streak. “It was actually nice because I could quit thinking about it and the pressure was off.”

Perkins was expected to be in the finals, the unseeded Dickson wasn’t. Dickson upset last year’s runner-up and this year’s No. 2 seed Mimi Miller of Friday Harbor in the first round Friday. She then survived a 3-hour marathon in the semifinals against Bi-County rival and No. 3 seed Marci Smith of Odessa, winning 6-4, 6-7, 6-3. Smith had beaten Dickson a week ago in districts, making her the No. 1 seed out of Districts 7 and 9.

“I had lots of fun,” Dickson said of her first state tournament. “But I was pretty nervous.”

In the boys final, Chris Lewis of Bush won his second straight state title by defeating unseeded Scott Fava of University Prep 6-1, 6-1.

Lewis disposed of Medical Lake’s Josh Greene 6-0, 6-1 in the semifinals. Greene went on to capture third place, beating Seth Gibeaut of Tonasket 6-1, 6-1.

Lewis’ championship victory gave the state title to Bush by one point over Cascade. Overlake was third and Medical Lake finished sixth.

The most important match of the day may have been the girls doubles championships.

If Cashmere’s Keri Peterson and Gina Smith could beat Amanda Taylor and Maria Harriman of Omak, Cashmere would win the team title outright. If the Bulldogs lost, they would tie defending champion University Prep for the title.

Smith and Taylor came through, taking the first set in a hard-fought tiebreaker, and then rolled to win 7-6, 6-0.

Odessa finished third. Omak and Davenport tied for fourth.

Sage Tweedie-Yates and Dan Barghelame from Overlake won the boys doubles championship, scoring a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Cascade’s Micah Rieke and Evan McCauley.

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