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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

GSL set to give state double trouble

From left, Mead's Britta Stime and Katrina Schwab and Lewis and Clark's Erica Ehlo and Lyndi Seidensticker are the GSL's top two girls doubles seeds to state after the Mead won their regional championship match with the Tigers duo. 
 (Photo by John C. Kenlein / The Spokesman-Review)

If you’ve been an active follower at all of Greater Spokane League tennis this season, you’ve heard mostly about the wealth of competitive singles players in the league and some exciting rivalries – including the one between girls singles standouts Elise Otto (Lewis and Clark) and Katie Griffith (Ferris).

But a new rivalry has developed in the postseason that has made for tight competition on the girls doubles front between Mead duo Katrina Schwab and Britta Stime and LC’s Erica Ehlo and Lyndi Seidensticker.

Both pairs are off to this weekend’s State 4A tournament, held Friday and Saturday at the Vancouver (Wash.) Tennis Center, joining fellow GSL athletes who made a strong showing at last weekend’s regional tournament, capturing 11 of the 14 overall state berths.

Schwab and Stime, who fill the Panthers top two singles spots during the regular season and team up for postseason play, finished sixth in last year’s state tournament. They have beaten Ehlo and Seidensticker twice – two weeks ago in the District 8 4A final and last weekend for the regional title – both times in straight sets.

“We have a healthy respect for the time, work, and energy the Mead doubles team of Schwab and Stime,” LC girls tennis coach John Kenlein said. “They have been a step ahead in each of the two contests beating us … those two young ladies play with dignity and tenacity.”

The interesting facet to Ehlo and Seidensticker’s game is the fact that they don’t play club tennis. In fact, other than the regular season, they don’t play at all.

Ehlo, a standout volleyball player for the State 4A runner-up Tigers, wasn’t able to play in last year’s district tournament and Seidensticker, a Montana State-bound basketball player for the state champion Tigers, lost out at regionals last season with partner Natalie Cholaj.

“It’s such an accomplishment for both of us,” Ehlo said. “We play about two months out of the year and we didn’t have plans past league play, we just went for it when districts came around, so we’re both really excited and we can’t wait to get there and show our stuff.”

Until Schwab and Stime paired up for postseason play, Ehlo and Seidensticker were the top doubles team in the league, finishing undefeated in GSL play.

“It must be nice to pick up a racquet for a couple months in the year and play well enough to go undefeated in league, lose in districts to a pair of singles players doubling up for a state run, and then qualify to play in a state tournament in a sport that is truly your secondary skill set,” Kenlein said.

They will be joined by the Ferris team of Christina Berg and Kelsey McLauchlin, who grabbed the third and final seed out of regionals.

The GSL boys captured three of the four singles state berths and two of the four spots for doubles.

Leading the way for the singles players will be top-seeded Whitman Hough of Ferris, who is looking to improve on last year’s sixth-place finish at state.

Freshman Ethan Vaughn (Mead) is the third seed, after defeating LC Brazilian exchange student Miguel Candido 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (4) in the third-fourth place match last weekend. Candido played back-to-back matches that went nearly three hours each, beating Gonzaga Prep’s Marc Poppy for the state berth before playing Vaughn in a three-set thriller.

Vaughn, who lost to Candido in the district tournament third-fourth place game, was 10-1 during the regular season.