Juneau-Douglas High School tennis team members Sami Good and Erica Hurtte are already state champions: the pair took home first in girls doubles at last year’s First National Bank Tennis State Championships. This year Good and Hurtte will divide their talents, with Good playing mixed doubles and Hurtte girls singles in their chase for more hardware at this weekend’s Tennis State Championships in Anchorage.
“I’ve always considered myself a singles players,” Hurtte said after a Tuesday practice at the Alaska Club. “Last year, we tried doubles and we ended up winning, but I think I’ve always been stronger in singles.”
The team will enter four boys and four girls athletes in five divisions. Good will partner with senior homeschooler Phillip Wall for mixed doubles; freshmen Olivia Moore and Madison Carter represent the team in girls doubles; senior Reuben MacNaughten teams up with junior Jacob Dale for boys doubles and sophomore Wolf Dostel will compete in boys singles in addition to Hurtte at girls singles.
Eight teams will compete in each division, one from each school. Competition will take place both Friday and Saturday at the Alaska Club East in Anchorage. Each bracket is single elimination with the championships slated for Saturday afternoon.
JDHS has a chance to earn multiple titles, with Good and Wall ranked No. 1 in mixed doubles and Hurtte ranked #2 in girls singles.
“Phillip (Wall) and I are seeded first, so we’re expecting to do pretty good, hopefully placing first or second,” Good said.
Hurtte is a fiery competitor who attacks the ball with her whole body. She will compete against South sophomore Christine Hemry, a powerhouse who hasn’t lost a game this year except to Hurtte.
“There’s one (athlete) that’s my main competition I’ve been training for,” Hurtte said of Hemry. “She’s my same age, from a big tennis family and has been playing her whole life. She has a little bit more resources since Anchorage is a big city, but I just have to learn how to do that here. We’re good friends.”
Head coach Kurt Dzinich sees a lot of potential in Hurtte. He thinks the state championship will likely come down to Hurtte and Hemry for the next three years.
“She has the potential to be the best tennis player Juneau has ever seen,” Dzinich said of Hurtte, adding “I will take a third place team finish overall even if we don’t win anything else.”
Juneau’s first unified team
In a first for Juneau activities, the tennis team included athletes from both Juneau-Douglas and Thunder Mountain High Schools. In May, ASAA granted the Juneau School District a 1-year waiver to consolidate up to four sports and activities between the two schools. JDHS and TMHS chose to combine three teams this year; wrestling and drama, debate and forensics will follow tennis during the school year in consolidating.
Still nominally the JDHS tennis team, 21 students from both schools participated in the sport this year, with the team narrowing to their 8-person squad during the last few weeks of practice in preparation for the state championships. Besides Wall, who is a home school student that plays baseball for Thunder Mountain, the team selected for the eight state spots were JDHS students.
“We’re a pretty inclusive team,” MacNaughten said.
“The Thunder Mountain players are a really a big part of our team now,” Good said. “We really want new players to come, so the Thunder Mountain freshmen, when they’re seniors, they will be good enough to go to state and keep the program growing.”
Head coach Kurt Dzinich said he doesn’t doubt Thunder Mountain kids will make the state team soon, but JDHS students had a leg up this year because of their experience.
“There are a few Thunder Mountain kids who are picking things up real quick,” Dzinich said. “We had some good athletes come over from Thunder Mountain. Consolidating the teams has worked out well.”
“Everything has been pretty much the same, this year and last year,” Hurtte said. “It was a good change, a good combination, but it was the first year so we are just starting to experience it.”
• Contact Sports and Outdoors reporter Kevin Gullufsen at 523-2228 or kevin.gullufsen@juneauempire.com.
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