Otto beats friend Griffith for singles title

Elise Otto and Katie Griffith are rivals on the tennis court. Off the court, they are friends – even USTA doubles partners.

The two met as opponents for the third time this year in Saturday’s 4A Eastern Region girls singles championship match held at North Park Racquet Club.

They played against each other the first time during the regular Greater Spokane League season, in which Ferris sophomore Griffith won in three sets. They met again in last week’s district championships. Otto won, taking home the district title.

She also captured the regional title, defeating Griffith 6-3, 6-1.

Otto, a junior at Lewis and Clark, breezed through the semifinals with a 6-0, 6-1 win over University’s Kamin Alteneder. Griffith had a tougher time in her semifinal match. She overcame a 2-5 deficit in the first set to take down Big Nine No. 1 seed Caitlin Bampton of Kamiakin 7-5, 6-1.

Griffith looked good at the start of the first set quickly breaking Otto’s serve and holding her service game.

But things quickly went downhill.

Otto began controlling the points and Griffith didn’t have an answer for her strong net play.

“I just worked on coming to the net and being aggressive,” Otto said.

Otto won the next four games, breaking Griffith twice and holding serve twice. Griffith broke Otto once more before Otto captured the first set.

In the second set Griffith won the first game and Otto easily won the next six.

“I felt more comfortable in the second set because I already won the first one so I could relax a little more,” Otto said.

Griffith became increasingly frustrated and made twice as many unforced errors as Otto in the second set, many on her forehand.

“I just made too many unforced errors and didn’t get to the net enough,” Griffith said.

“I worked on her forehand because she was hitting a lot into the net or out,” Otto said. “I tried not to hit to her backhand because she can pretty much beat me straight out on that.”

LC girls tennis coach John Kenlein couldn’t have been more pleased with Otto’s performance.

”(Elise) was consistent and in a match like this it comes down to hitting the ball in one more time in every point,” Kenlein said. “She is so balanced and mature about what shots to take. Life is pretty good for a high school coach with an athlete that is so emotionally mature. She is court savvy.”

Bampton defeated Alteneder 6-1, 6-1 for the third seed to state.

In the boys singles final foreign exchange student Brano Valach of Richland defeated LC’s Ben Gullickson 6-3, 3-6, 6-4. Whitman Hough of Ferris beat Kamiakin’s Quin Miller 4-6, 6-1, 7-5 for the third seed to state.

In girls doubles Gabrielle Madson and Nikki Chambers of Moses Lake defeated Eisenhower’s Katie Staudinger and Ciara Schultz, who placed third in last year’s state tournament, 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-4.

Mead’s Katrina Schwab and Britta Stine captured the third seed to state with a 7-5, 6-4 win over Nicole Kirch and Natalie Kirch of Kennewick.

In boys doubles Riley Schultz and Micah Mack of Wenatchee captured the regional title with a 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 win over LC’s Nick Johnson and Chris Martin. Brock Schadler and Sterling Swafford of Pasco defeated Allan Ta and Ali Ta for third place and a state berth.

LC won the girls team title and Moses Lake finished second. Wenatchee took home the boys team title and LC placed second.

3A regional tournament

At North Park Racquet Club, Molly Knox of Hanford defeated Brooke Foster of West Valley-Yakima 6-4, 6-3 in the girls singles championship.

Jessica Casebier of East Valley earned the third state berth with a win over teammate Miranda Brother.

In boys singles Kenny Plesha of Sunnyside beat Jake Knox of Hanford 6-0, 6-1. Curtis Lan of Hanford captured third place.

West Valley-Yakima took home the girls team title. Boys team results and doubles results were not available.