Freeman’s Jansen cruises in girls singles

Lea Jansen put Class 1A Freeman High on the area tennis map.

The sophomore won the girls No. 1 singles title at the 63rd Inland Empire Tennis Tournament Saturday at Mead High, knocking off top singles entries from Class 4A Mead and Class 3A Kennewick in the semis and finals, respectively.

Seeded No. 2 in the top girls singles division behind the defending champion, Alexis Filliol of West Valley-Yakima, Jansen knocked off the No. 3 seed, Katrina Schwab of Mead, in the semifinals 6-2, 6-2. She stopped unseeded Nele Zorn of Kennewick in the final 6-2, 6-1. Zorn bested Filliol in her semifinal.

Don’t let the Class 1A level fool you. Jansen is used to big-time athletics.

Her mother, Eva Windlin-Jansen, coaches volleyball for the Scotties and is the former head volleyball coach at Gonzaga University. Her father, Andy Jansen, is a tennis pro at the Spokane Racquet Club. Lea did not play high school tennis as a freshman; she attended the Gorin Tennis Academy in Northern California last year.

“I’m used to playing in national tournaments,” Jansen said. “I really wanted to play tennis this year with my sister (senior Hanna). She’s really into volleyball, but we wanted to play tennis together. We want to go to state together if we can.”

As the final match played itself out, Freeman coach Pia Longinotti fielded the same question again and again.

“Where is Freeman?” people kept asking.

One guessed it was near Walla Walla, another guessed Yakima. For next year, she said, she’s considering a team T-shirt with a map printed on the back.

“We’re just happy to have Lea play for us and we hope we can keep making the schedule work so she can do it again next year,” Longinotti said. “Face it, the caliber of competition in our league is not even close to what she’s used to at a national tournament. She has a sister, Maya, who will be a freshman for us next year.”

Jansen and her sister will play doubles in the postseason. For the Inland Empire tournament, though, she wanted to play singles.

Jansen made short work of her tournament competition, winning the tournament in straight sets.

“Most of the girls in this tournament aren’t going to have experience playing against someone with Lea’s resume,” tournament director Bill Wagstaff said. “It’s good for Lea because she’s not going to get this kind of competition anywhere else outside of the state tournament. And it’s good for the girls who got the chance to play her, too.”

The tournament was played under ideal tennis conditions – something of a rarity for this tournament over the years.

“We do have a tendency to draw moisture,” Wagstaff laughed. “This has been a nice change for us. So far, we’ve had snow every single week since the start of the season.”

Mead sisters Britta and Katijene Stime, the tournament’s second seeds in the No. 1 girls doubles division, scored a 6-1, 6-4 win over Hanford’s Cassandra Dicken and Becky Sharpe.

Mead’s Erica Norris defended her share of the No. 1 mixed doubles title, teaming with Bryan Lee to stop Hanford’s Lauren and A.J. Thomas 6-3, 7-6 (7-3).

Richland’s Troy Zuroske knocked off second-seeded Jake Knox of neighboring Hanford 6-2, 6-4 to win the boys No. 1 singles final.

That title, along with four victorious doubles teams, powered Richland to the overall team title with 149 points. Mead was a distant second with 123.

Teammates Elliot Martin and Chris Shallman defended their No. 1 doubles championship. The pair held off second-seeded Chris Martin and Zach Williams of Lewis and Clark 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Unseeded John Sampson and Taylor Dickey won the No. 2 boys doubles title, defeating the second-seeded Lewis and Clark team of Louis Rukavina and Colin Moravec 6-1. 6-0.

Second-seeded Lauren Thompson and Sydney Dautel won the No. 2 girls doubles title, knocking off top seeds Katie Willis and Maycee McQuin of Wenatchee in the final.

Top seeds Mikayla Kusuda and John Talbot won the No. 2 mixed doubles title, stopping Mt. Spokane’s Amie DeWolf and Zach Caldwell 6-3, 6-2.

Wenatchee’s Victoria Monreal knocked off Mead’s Annika Westre 6-3, 6-2 in the No. 2 girls singles finale.