Megan Lalone, two tennis tandems move on to district

Marina Messerli (above) is Anna Fina’s doubles partner. PHOTO BY JOHN GALBREATH Stanwood sophomore Megan Lalone breezed through her four matches in the WesCo 4A North Division girls’ tennis competition last week, thereby claiming the league singles championship at the Arlington High School courts.

The two Spartan doubles teams of Marina Messerli/Anna Fina and Amme Verbarendse/Kallen Shaughnessy both advanced to this week’s district meet at Jackson High (Wednesday, May 19, 1 p.m. and Thursday, May 20, 3 p.m.) with a third- and fourth-place finish, respectively.

District information can be obtained from the SHS athletic director’s office at 629-1322.

On her way to the divisional crown, Lalone swept matches with Lake Stevens’ Kourtney Van Santen (6-0, 6-0), Monroe’s Brooke Winslow (6-0, 6-0), Oak Harbor’s Erin Neilon (6-0, 6-0) and Marysville-Pilchuck’s Sarah Tuemmler (default).

Anna Fina (above) and Marina Messerli took third in the WesCo 4A North Division Girls’ Doubles Tennis Championships by beating teammates Amme Verbarendse and Kallen Shaughnessy. Both duos advance to the district tournament this week. PHOTO BY JOHN GALBREATH Even though M-P’s Tuemmler was unable to compete due to illness in the final, Lalone had defeated the Tomahawks’ best player by 6-1, 6-0, 6-0, 6-0 scores during their regular-season encounters.

Both doubles duos played well enough to face one another in the match to determine third and fourth places. Messerli and Fina defeated their Stanwood teammates, Verbarendse and Shaughnessy in a close contest, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4. Both tandems advance to this week’s district competition.

Messerli and Fina had beaten a Marysville Pilchuck duo 6-1, 7-6 in the first round before losing to Aimee Policarpio and Shannon Tomsheck of Everett’s Cascade High 6-4, 6-4 in the second. In the consolation round they came back to win 6-3, 6-4 over Monroe’s Hannah Davis and Alyssa Drew. Their next match saw them eliminate Kendra Whitfield and Gabrielle Lindquist of Monroe 6-1, 6-2 in the consolation semi-final.

Meanwhile Verbarendse and Shaughnessy won their first match over a Cascade duo 6-2, 6-0 but then lost to Bearcats’ Whitfield and Lindquist 3-6, 6-4, 7-5. Their first consolation match produced a victory over Brooke Larson and Kylee Hilde of Lake Stevens 6-4, 6-2. They then defeated Policarpio and Tomsheck 2-6, 6- 2, 6-3 to gain the consolation finals.

Stanwood’s Heather Smith also represented SHS in the competition. Smith took her opening match by out-hitting Snohomish’s Brady Coad 6-4, 6-2. She lost her second round encounter 6-2, 6-2 to Oak Harbor’s Cady O’Dell. The next day, the sophomore racketeer won another match-up, this time 6-3, 6-1 over Amy Chhom of Cascade.

Smith then lost her battle for a district spot when she dropped the fifth/sixth encounter to Brooke Winslow of Monroe 6- 2, 6-2. She did earn an alternate spot with her high finish, however.

The top three individuals and pairs qualify for the state tournament which will be May 28-29 at Kamiakan High School in the Tri Cities.