A waiting game ensued for Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaat.at Kalé on Saturday afternoon at the state tennis championships.
Several hours after wrapping up play, eight Juneau teammates waited patiently for the result of the girls doubles finals, rooting for West Anchorage to win and push their team into third place in the team standings. The Eagles put up a fight against Dimond, but lost 6-1, 6-3, dropping the Crimson Bears fourth place (55 points).
South Anchorage and West Anchorage tied for first with 105 points, while Dimond claimed third with 60 points.
“It all hinged upon that (match),” JDHS coach Kurt Dzinich said.
South and West have traded off every state championship since the first state tournament in 2007. The Crimson Bears receive an automatic berth to the state tournament as the only Southeast school with a tennis program and have appeared in the last 13 events.
Like the team standings, the girls doubles tournament came down to just a few points for JDHS’ Jaymie Collman and Olivia Moore. The duo played in quarterfinals and third-place matches that were each decided by separate 10-point tiebreakers. After losing via tiebreaker to Lathrop High School 4-6, 6-0, 1-0, Collman and Moore regrouped to defeat West Anchorage 6-0, 6-0 and Chugiak 6-4, 3-6, 1-0 for third place.
JDHS’ Anna Dale (girls singles) and William Smoker and Will Rehfeldt (boys doubles) also had a shot at third place. Dale lost to Lathrop’s Helen Wharton 6-1, 6-3, in her third-place match, and Smoker and Rehfeldt lost to South Anchorage in their third-place match.
ASAA state tennis championships winners
2007 — West Anchorage (JDHS third)
2008 — West Anchorage (JDHS third)
2009 — South Anchorage (JDHS fifth)
2010 — South Anchorage (JDHS seventh)
2011 — South Anchorage (JDHS seventh)
2012 — West Anchorage (JDHS third)
2013 — West Anchorage (JDHS third)
2014 — West Anchorage (JDHS ninth)
2015 — West Anchorage (JDHS fifth)
2016 — South Anchorage (JDHS second)
2017 — South Anchorage (JDHS third)
2018 — West Anchorage (JDHS fourth)
2019 — South/West Anchorage (JDHS fourth)
