Tonasket junior Brett Hendrick prepares to hit the ball back to his opponent during the State Tennis Tournament in Yakima on Friday, May 28. Hendrick won his first match against Sully Blake of St. George’s 6-0, 6-0, lost his second match against Daniel
YAKIMA – For the second consecutive year, Tonasket tennis player Brett Hendrick placed sixth at the Washington Interscholastic Athletic Association’s 1B/2B/1A State Tennis Tournament at the Yakima Tennis Center, held on Friday, May 28 and Saturday, May 29.
“Hendrick played well throughout the tournament,” Allen Godwin, co-head coach, said. “He defeated the first kid pretty easily as the number one seed from our district, then he came up against Daniel Ham and played a good, strong match, but he lost that match. In his third match at the end of the day on Friday, he played Lee Leavell. Both boys played very hard and left it all out on the courts but it’s hard to watch teammates play each other in a loser-out situation. Then, on Saturday morning, Hendrick defeated the Davenport kid and then played a rematch from last year against Seth Gibbons. He played a real strong match but came up short for sixth place.”
Hendrick’s first match was a 6-0, 6-0 victory over Sully Blake of St. George’s, his defeat to Ham, of Charles Wright, was 6-1, 6-3. Hendrick’s match against Leavell was a 7-6, 6-3 victory. On Saturday, he defeated Davenport’s Jarod Gunning 7-5, 6-2. Finally, he lost to Gibbons of La Salle 6-1, 6-2.
“Leavell had a good tournament but he got a very tough draw,” Godwin said. “He played his first match against the boy who eventually finished in second place. He played exceptionally well but lost. Then he came back and rebounded for a win but he lost to Hendrick in his third and final match.”
Leavell’s first match was against T. Torvund of Overlake and he lost 6-2. In his second match, he defeated Jace Hochwalt of Chewelah 6-1, 6-4. After the tournament was over, Leavell won the State Sportsmanship Award for how he played with strong sportsmanship.
“I think the tournament overall was good,” Godwin said. “There’s definitely a very strong singles’ division at state with a lot of really good kids. Hendrick and Leavell are both juniors, so they have another year.”
Co-head Coach Tara Deebach said she thought the tournament went well as well.
“I think our boys were disappointed, but they played well,” she said. “They had to play each other at the tournament and that was touch. You hate to see one teammate lose to another.”
The team banquet will be on Tuesday, June 8 with the time to be announced.
