Mercer Island boys and girls doubles teams took home district titles at the 3A SeaKing district championships May 17 and 18 at Lower Woodland Park.
Christian Anderson and Chris Elliott survived Garfield’s Oscar Burney and Brad Huffaker in three sets 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(6) to win the boys bracket.
Caroline Hamilton and Sammy Sweet came from behind in the third set of their doubles final against Interlake’s Jessica Liang and Lina Larson to win 7-6(3), 3-6, 7-5. It was the duo’s second straight district doubles crown.
Trailing Liang and Larson 4-1 in the third set of their doubles final, Hamilton and Sweet appeared to be on their way to a second-place finish. Sweet said she felt the momentum shift when the pair rallied for eight-straight points to make it a 4-3 match.
“I think it’s the most we’ve ever been down together,” she said, “but we’re good at pumping each other up.”
“We both knew we were going to state, but it was an intense competition,” Hamilton said. “We wanted to win [the district title].”
Overall, the Mercer Island boys won the 3A SeaKing district trophy as a team, while Lakeside edged Interlake to claim the top spot in the girls meet.
All of Mercer Island’s district qualifiers advanced to this weekend’s state championships, with heavy Mercer Island representation in doubles competition. The top six finishers earned a state berth in the boys bracket, while the top five advanced for the girls.
Jake Bethards and Caden Conder placed third in boys doubles, defeating Seattle Prep’s Matt Zech and Alex Blattner 6-2, 6-3 in the third-fourth match. Ben Bethards and Jarod Wong placed sixth, falling in three sets to Bainbridge Island’s Eli Wagner and Jeremy Lipschutz 6-3, 6-7(3), 1-6 in the fifth-sixth match.
Nils Harder, the Islanders’ lone singles representative, placed fifth in the boys singles bracket, defeating Lakeside’s Jason Edmonds 6-3, 6-4 in the fifth-sixth match.
For the girls, Fiona Brasfield and Chloe Gage defeated Lakeside’s Tembi Karagianes and Amy Wang 7-5, 6-4 for the fifth and final berth out of their bracket.
The 3A boys and girls state tennis championships will take place May 27-28 at Tri-City Court Club and Kamiakin High School in Kennewick.