Lehi Sports
Pioneer girls tennis shows well at Westlake Open
Beky Beaton / Lehi Free Press
The Lehi High School girls tennis team finished fifth in a tight field at the 14-team Fourth Annual Westlake Open Tennis Tournament on August 28 and 29. Both Pioneer doubles teams claimed third-place medals in the competition.
Grantsville was the overall winner with 21 points, followed by Highland and Deer Creek tied for second with 20 points each. Weber finished third with 13 points. Timpanogos and Box Elder tied for fourth with 12 points apiece and Lehi finished right after them with 11 points.
The first day of the event was played in a round-robin format. The Pioneers were assigned to Group A of Group 2 and went 2-1, topping Weber and Timpanogos by scores of 4-1 each but bowing to Highland 1-4. All matches were Pro Sets to eight points with tiebreakers at 8-8 if needed.
The second day was a position event draw in each of the three singles and two doubles brackets. Every player was guaranteed two matches. After the first round, it was a single-elimination tournament except for a playoff match to determine third place.
In No. 1 Singles, senior Ella Gonzalez swept Westlake’s Mary Anne Stinger 8-0 in the first round. She competed hard against Highland’s Millie Creamer in the quarterfinal, but the Ram prevailed 8-6 and went on to finish second in the bracket.
In Second Singles, junior Kinley Olson defeated Westlake’s Grace Browning 8-1 but fell to Highland’s Caroline Gardner 8-2 in the quarterfinal bout. Gardner came in third in the bracket.
In No. 3 Singles, sophomore Sophie Gonzalez reached the semifinals by topping Uintah’s Emmy Peterson and Westlake’s Nayda Harmer.
She then bowed to the eventual champion, Grace Fotheringham of Highland, 8-2 in that round and finished fourth with a loss to Grantsville’s Shelby McBride 8-4 in the placement match.
Senior Breckyn Hollindrake and junior Claire Thatcher teamed up for Lehi in the First Doubles bracket. In the initial round they outlasted a Box Elder’s duo of Emma Thatcher and Kenadee Lowe 9-7 and then toppled a team from Westlake 8-5.
Zoey Wilson and Ellie Adams of Timpanogos won the semifinal and finished second, while the Pioneers beat Fremont’s Millie Shupe and Meg Roberts 8-1 to finish third.
In No. 2 Doubles, sophomore Sahasya Sandepogu and senior Abigail Cox also placed third. The pair beat Uintah’s Maddi Williams and Brynlee Young 9-7 and Claire Gardner with Shelby Ross of Timpanogos 8-3 to reach the semifinal.
A Westlake duo won that match 8-3 and finished second, while the Lehi team went on to prevail 8-4 over Cedar’s Maggie Nessen and Haven Westwood in the placement match.
