Although impending darkness shifted play across town from Warhill High School to the lighted courts at Kiwanis Park, the semifinal rounds of the Bay Rivers District tennis individual tournaments wrapped up as scheduled late Monday evening.
Monday’s results set up Wednesday’s championship matches, which are scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. on Huntington Park’s courts in Newport News.
The girls’ singles and doubles championships will be an all-Jamestown High affair, as top-seeded Leah Walter and younger sister Anna cruised through their semifinal matchups to advance to the singles final. Leah knocked off York’s Gaby Tersigni 6-1, 6-0 Monday afternoon while Anna defeated Falcons’ No. 1 Teresa Alvarez 6-0. 6-1.
“It’s going to be interesting,” Leah Walter said of facing her younger sister for the singles crown. “I’m really proud of [Anna] for making it this far, but it’s going to be hard because we’re both really competitive and haven’t really played each other in a full match.
“It could go either way.”
After their singles final on Wednesday, the two sisters will then team up to face fellow Eagles teammates Kathy Sharp and Elizabeth Wallace, who outlasted Grafton’s tandem of Sydney Short and Kayla Jefferson 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) Monday, in the doubles final.
On the boys’ side, top-seeded Kurt Mittman of Bruton handled Jamestown’s Sam Ross 6-1, 6-3 in one singles semifinal. The junior standout will advance to face Eagles junior foreign exchange student Fabian Schleicher, who edged York’s Ethan Buck 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 in Monday’s other semifinal. Schleicher, who entered the tournament unseeded, has made an impressive run through the singles tournament while battling severe leg cramping in each of his last two matches.
Mittman and teammate Patrick Riley, who knocked off Jamestown’s Nathan Campbell and Derrick Nielson 6-0, 6-2 just before play moved over to Kiwanis Monday evening, will face the Eagles No. 1 tandem of Sam Ross and Mike Jones – 6-3, 6-0 winners over York’s Buck and Vraj Gajjar on Monday – in Wednesday’s doubles’ final.
All players/tandems who advanced to Monday’s semifinals secured berths to next week’s Region I tournament.
Below are the results from Monday’s semifinals:
GIRLS
Singles
Semifinals
No. 1 L. Walter (Jamestown) def. G. Tersigni (York) 6-1, 6-0
A. Walter def. No. 2 T. Alvarez 6-0, 6-1
Championship
No. 1 L. Walter vs. A. Walter
Doubles
Semifinals
No. 1 L. Walter/A. Walter (Jamestown) def. No. 4 Alvarez/Dantzler (York) 6-3, 6-3
Wallace/Sharp (Jamestown) def. No. 3 Jefferson/Short (Grafton) 6-4, 7-6 (7-4)
Championship
No. 1 L. Walter/A. Walter vs. Wallace/Sharp
BOYS
Singles
Semifinals
No. 1 Mittman (Bruton) def. No. 4 Ross (Jamestown) 6-1, 6-3
Schleicher (Jamestown) def. Buck (York) 3-6, 6-3, 6-1
Championship
No. 1 Mittman (Bruton) vs. Schleicher (Jamestown)
Doubles
Semifinals
No. 1 Mittman/Riley (Bruton) def. Campbell/Nielson (Jamestown) 6-4, 6-2
No. 2 Ross/Jones (Jamestown) def. Buck/Gajjar (York) 6-3, 6-0
Championship
No. 1 Mittman/Riley (Bruton) vs. No. 2 Ross/Jones (Jamestown)
