W.F. West’s Katelyn Wood and Lilly Hueffed won medals on Saturday, as the Bearcat duo placed eighth at the 2A Girls State Tennis Tournament in Seattle.
“My girls battled today,” W.F. West coach Megan Wellander said. “They worked so hard.”
After splitting two matches on Friday, Hueffed and Wood needed to win a match Saturday morning to get to a placement match. They did just that, topping Sammamish’s M. Gossage and L. Chianglin 1-6, 6-4, 12-10 (only first name initials were available on the WIAA website).
“The first match was the best tennis they’ve played,” Wellander said. “They were focused, hitting the ball well, and finishing points, it was awesome .. The girls came out with full energy and crushed it.”
Wellander said that after the slow start, the girls found another gear, and they made them earn everything over the second set and the tiebreaker.
Hueffed and Wood lost a tight match in the 5th/8th game, losing to Selah’s K. Adams and J. Hall 4-6, 6-7 (2-7).
“I think they both felt like they could have beaten that team,” Wellander said. “But placing your first year going to state is really a huge accomplishment.”
Wellander added that placing this year is especially impressive, as Wellander, Wood, and Hueffed all entered the season with the expectation that this would be a growing year.
Next year, Wellander said, was the year they expected to make the leap.
“Now you know how it feels,” Wellander said. “So we’re gonna do better next year.”
Wood and Hueffed were the only Bearcats to play a match on Saturday, as Justin Chung and Javyn Han went 0-2 in their matches on Friday.
“Justin and Javyn worked hard,” Wellander said. “They had some really good points and played some really good tennis, but unfortunately we just weren’t able to make it out.”
