Sage Renninger, seen here in an earlier match, teamed with Payton Aparicio Monday to win a third straight Olympic League doubles crown. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)
Vilma Jurma of Port Townsend, a Finnish foreign exchange student, placed second in singles at the league tourney.
Coupeville senior Claire Mietus claimed fourth in singles and advances to the district tourney for the first time.
It went just about flawlessly.
Pretty much everything clicked into place Monday as Coupeville High School hosted the 1A Olympic League girls tennis tourney.
The weather morphed from early clouds into blazing sun, which was great except for one poor Klahowya netter who sat up from her towel late in the day to be met by muffled screams from her teammates.
“You are a lobster! No, I mean a red, REEEEEDDDDDD lobster!!”
Meanwhile, school groundskeepers were able to shepherd some wayward geese from the premises before they had a chance to unleash machine-gun-style poop. Always a win.
In the midst of all of that, CHS coach/tourney director Ken Stange pulled off a tight, well-oiled event which was done in time to let rival teams catch the early ferry, with nary a trace of drama, on-court or off.
Coupeville, as undisputed four-time league champs, had the most entries, claiming nine of the 24 slots.
By the end of the day that had held up, as the Wolves won a doubles title, tied for top honors in the team scoring race, and advanced five netters to next week’s district tourney.
CHS seniors Payton Aparicio and Sage Renninger were the big winners, sweeping all three of their matches to claim a third straight doubles crown.
The team they beat in the final, Wolf sophomores Avalon Renninger and Tia Wurzrainer, played well above their seeding, taking out both of Klahowya’s doubles duos.
The youngest players to advance (eight seniors and two juniors will join them at districts), they had the match of the day.
That came in the semifinals, when Wurzrainer, whipping vicious cross-court returns and Avalon Renninger, peppering screaming left-handed winners, stomped on Klahowya’s #1 team.
“That! That was nice!!,” Stange said with a big grin as he strolled by in the aftermath.
The young Wolf duo benefited from the biggest cheering section of the day.
While school was in session Monday, many of their fellow athletes popped out during breaks, lunch or study hall.
Every Wolf had at least a few students on hand during their matches, but the clock timed out best for Avalon and Tia, who saw the bleachers jammed for their semifinal bout.
The two CHS doubles duos will be joined in Tacoma May 16-17 by senior singles player Claire Mietus, who is making her first trip to districts.
The top two finishers in singles and doubles at the two-day event, held at the Sprinker Tennis Center, advance to state.
Monday’s league tourney, which was missing Chimacum’s top two players, Renee Woods and Gladys Hitt, who had other commitments, opened with a winner-take-all first round.
Win a pro set and you were district bound, with later rounds (all best-two-of-three-sets) for deciding seeding. Lose and your season was done.
Wolf singles players Genna Wright and Heather Nastali and the doubles team of Kameryn St Onge and Maggie Crimmins fell in the first round.
Wright, who soared all the way to being Coupeville’s #1 player this season, is just a freshman, while the other three are seniors.
CHS sends five players to districts, while Klahowya (four, including singles champ Hailey Sargent), Chimacum (2) and Port Townsend (1) round out the Olympic League contingent.
Complete Coupeville results:
Genna Wright:
Lost to Maddy Rienks (Klahowya) 8-6
Claire Mietus:
Beat Makaela Caskey (Chimacum) 8-4
Lost to Vilma Jurma (Port Townsend) 6-1, 6-3
Lost to Rienks (Kla) 6-3, 6-0
Heather Nastali:
Lost to Jurma (PT) 8-0
Payton Aparicio/Sage Renninger:
Beat Chiara Vignale/Claudia Garfis (PT) 8-0
Beat Grace Yaley/Chloe Patterson (Chim) 6-3, 6-0
Beat Avalon Renninger/Tia Wurzainer (Coup) 6-0, 6-0
Avalon Renninger/Tia Wurzrainer:
Beat Anna Wells/Kelisha Harris (Kla) 8-0
Beat Taylor Bruce/Marianne Marker (Kla) 6-2, 6-3
Lost to Aparicio/S. Renninger (Coup) 6-0, 6-0
Maggie Crimmins/Kameryn St Onge:
Lost to Yaley/Patterson (Chim) 9-7
