Earning their highest-ever team finish, Juneau’s combined high school tennis team placed second at the Alaska School Activities Association Tennis State Championships in Anchorage on Oct. 7-8, falling only to South Anchorage High School in overall points. The nominal Juneau-Douglas High School team, who were joined this year by athletes from Thunder Mountain High School, scored 70 team points to South’s 175.
Seniors Sami Good and Phillip Wall took home the championship in mixed doubles, sophomore Erica Hurtte finished runner-up in girls singles and Jacob Dale and Reuben MacNaughton placed fourth in boys doubles.
Seeded #1 overall, Good and Wall made their way to the mixed doubles title game with 6-0, 6-1 and 6-0, 6-1 wins over duos from North Pole and West Anchorage High Schools. The pair then faced their stiffest competition of the tournament from South’s Chris Bailey and Khailey Yancha, whom they dispatched 6-4, 6-2.
Hurtte came into the tournament seeded second and beat West’s Savannah Paull 6-1, 6-1 in the first round and South’s Kaja Ferklova 7-6, 6-1 in the second round. In a rematch of last year’s final, Hurtte faced South sophomore and defending champion Christine Hemry, who bested Hurtte 6-3, 6-4.
Dale and MacNaughton dropped their opening game to #1 seed West Valley, but clawed their way to a consolation bracket win and a fourth place finish with wins over Monroe Catholic (6-2, 6-3) and Dimond (2-6, 6-4, 10-8).
The team has placed third five times since 2007’s inaugural state tournament, with this year’s second place finish marking the sixth top-three result in the tournament’s nine-year history.
