West, South share state tennis championship

There’s no doubt Dimond’s undefeated Debenham sisters Layna and Kate are the No. 1 doubles team in Alaska.

However, things aren’t so obvious when it comes to deciding the No. 1 high school tennis team.

West and South are the only two schools to have ever won the state team title since the ASAA event was created in 2007. Given that seesaw, it seemed fitting they shared the championship Saturday at the Alaska Club East.

West and South each racked up 105 points in the first tie in tournament history. The previous closest finish had been five points, set in 2015 when West edged South and in 2009 when South nipped West.

The team race always seems to be back and forth. But girls doubles, not so much.

Dimond’s dynamic duo capped a three-year undefeated career by claiming the girls doubles crown with a 6-1, 6-3 win over West’s Kristina Yu and Athena Clendaniel.

The Debenhams never dropped a set in three years at state and finished 9-0 overall.

They also joined an exclusive club of Christine Hemry, Joseph Hemry, Whitney Williams and Katrina Brown as the only Alaska high school players in the decade to win three straight state titles. Christine Hemry won four.

This year was their cleanest effort in terms of games as the Debenhams lost only seven compared to eight in 2018 and 10 in 2017.

The West side was no slouch, either. Yu was part of a mixed doubles state title last year and this was the second straight year Clendaniel played in the girls doubles final.

The biggest upset of the night came in boys singles, where No. 3 seed Gabriel Portal of South knocked off No. 1 Charlie Rush of West in a thrilling 6-4, 7-5 slugfest.

Rush and Portal have a history for playing tight matches. They recently faced off in the CIC tournament semifinals, with Rush escaping in three sets.

This time Portal won the match to help the Eagles secure a share of the state team title.

Portal, a junior, also upset No. 2 Alex Sergiacomo in the semifinals to reach his first final.

Rush was gunning for his second state title. Last year, he teamed with Teddy Bahr to win the boys doubles crown.

In the girls singles final, Chugiak senior Emilee Groth defeated West Valley junior Klara Kondrak 6-0, 6-1 to win her first state championship. This was Groth’s third all-state showing after placing fifth in 2018 and fourth in 2017.

Groth, the CIC champ, was the No. 1 seed and won all three matches at state by a combined score of 36-4.

This was only the second time in the last 10 years a player not from South won the girls singles crown. It also happened in 2014.

The unseeded Kondrak was somewhat of a Cinderella story at the state tournament, having knocked off No. 3 Sophia Green of West and No. 2 Helen Wharton of Lathrop on her way to the finals. She’s the first Interior player to reach the girls singles final since 2010 when Hutchison’s Kelsey Peterson placed second.

The boys doubles final saw the top seeds from West defeat the No. 2 seed from Service as Jack Coulter and Ethan Pickett defeated Max Garnett and Ben Broyles 6-2, 6-3.

Coulter and Pickett avoided a major scare in the quarterfinals after rallying for a three-set win over Colony.

In mixed doubles, South’s Stephen Kilkenny and Carter Nelson were the No. 1 seed and knocked off the unseeded Dimond team of Averyl Cobb and Soljin Choi 6-4, 6-3 in the final.

This was a rematch of the CIC championship match, also won by Kilkenny and Nelson.

For Kilkenny, the title has to feel satisfying after losing the boys doubles title match a year ago.

Cobb and Choi advanced to the championship match after upsetting the No. 2 seed from Service, Toby Lochner and Harmony Pretlow, in a 6-4, 7-6 battle.

The mixed doubles competition at state continues to be wide open with seven different schools winning the event in the last 10 years (South, West, West Valley, Juneau, Dimond, East and Lathrop).

Van Williams is a freelance writer in Anchorage and editor of the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame blog.