Tennis notes: Regions best come together at Inland Empire Tournament

The Inland Empire High School Tennis Tournament is in its 70th year and long-time tourney director Bill Wagstaff has a love/hate relationship with one of his toughest jobs.

The tournament will hold semifinal and championship-round matches today at Mead High School, with consolation bracket matches will be played at Mt. Spokane. Preliminary round matches were played at 11 venues around Spokane on Friday.

Wagstaff, the boys tennis coach at Mead, oversees groups of volunteers who seed brackets for three boys and three girls doubles flights, two boys and two girls singles flights and two flights of mixed doubles.

It’s like trying to play Six Degrees of Separation with solid ground strokes and a decent backhand. Much of the time it’s an educated guess.

“Most of the time I’m just hoping the seeding holds up,” Wagstaff laughed.

This year seeding the boys brackets was relatively simple: just look at Lewis and Clark.

“Lewis and Clark is so good this year that they could lose their top three players and still win the Greater Spokane League,” Wagstaff said.

LC senior Luke Britton is the top seed in the No. 1 singles bracket for what would have been the second straight year had he not opted to take his SATs during last year’s tournament. He and teammate Jordan Strandness won the State 4A boys doubles championship a year ago.

Grant LaRocca is the second seed in the No. 2 singles bracket, behind University’s Seth Olson.

Sophomore Kyle Fager, who has played No. 1 singles for the Tigers in recent GSL matches and who won No. 2 singles in last year’s tournament, will play No. 1 doubles with teammate Jacob Johnson. The pair are the top seeds.

Three GSL singles players are among the top four seeds in the No. 1 girls singles bracket. Central Valley’s Kyra Harames is the top seed. Gonzaga Prep’s Lizzy Marcinkowski is seeded third and Shadle Park’s Audra Spargo is seeded fourth.

Makenzie Kinloch and Elena Riehl of West Valley-Yakima are the top seeds in No. 1 girls doubles. Kinloch was half of last year’s runner-up team while Riehl was half of the No. 3 doubles champs. Hannah Hendricksen and Mary Stoa of Lewis and Clark are seeded second.

Melville faces tough decision

Lind-Ritzville senior Tracy Melville, a State 2B tournament veteran, is the second seed in No. 1 girls singles at the IE tournament.

Melville won the state cross country championship in the fall, and this spring she’s doubled up sports and is the top-ranked 3,200 meter runner in 2B and second in the 1,600.

Melville is likely to qualify for two state championship events. And that’s where the decision gets tough.

The State 1B/2B/1A track meet is May 28-30 at Eastern Washington University and the State 2B tennis tournament is May 29-30 at the Yakima Tennis Club. Not even a cross country champ can cover that much distance.

Colfax confusion

Wagstaff said he was more than a little skeptical when an IE Tournament entry form arrived from Colfax this year.

“Colfax has never entered the tournament for the simple reason that Colfax doesn’t have a tennis program,” Wagstaff said.

It turns out that the Bulldogs do have a girls singles player and she’s a state tournament veteran.

Laura Potter, who plays No. 1 singles for Odessa-Harrington, finished one win away from a trophy at last year’s State 2B tournament.

“Since Colfax doesn’t have a tennis team, she is affiliated with another school,” Wagstaff said.