LA CROSSE — The Aquinas and Onalaska high school girls tennis teams will take 22 points with them as they try to win a WIAA sectional championship on Wednesday.
The Blugolds and Hilltoppers tied for the top spot during Monday’s subsectional play at the Green Island Tennis Center and will try to use the performance to win a team championship in a tournament that continues at the Nielsen Tennis Stadium in Madison.
Aquinas will take senior Tenzin Nelson, senior Kaitlyn McGovern, junior Eva Willenbring and sophomore Alivia Ritter in singles brackets and the teams of Hadley Alderson and Hannah Miller and Elizabeth Hancock and Elly Binsfield to the sectional after victories on Monday.
Nelson (26-1) won her only No. 1 singles match 6-0, 6-0, and the No. 1 doubles team of Alderson and Miller — both sophomores — won 6-0, 6-2 in their only match.
McGovern (23-4) won a pair of 6-0, 6-0 matches at No. 2 singles, and Willenbring (24-2) and Ritter (26-1) did the same at No. 3 and No. 4 singles, respectively.
Hancock and Binsfield — both seniors — won 6-0, 6-2 in the first round and 6-3, 6-3 in the second.
Onalaska will be represented at the sectional by junior Mara Klein, senior Bella Cromheecke, sophomore Juliana Dunn and sophomore Claire Fortun in singles brackets. The doubles teams of Caroline Clark and Tsion Benusa and Claire Topolski and Shashi Getachew also qualified.
Klein (16-7) and the team of Clark and Benusa both won once and by scores of 6-0, 6-0.
Cromheecke (16-4) won by scores of 6-1, 6-1 and 6-0, 6-0 at No. 2, and Dunn won 6-1, 6-0 and 6-2, 6-1 at No. 3. Fortun won 6-0, 6-1 and 6-0, 6-0 at No. 4.
Topolski and Getachew won their matches 6-3, 6-1 and 6-2, 6-1.
Logan’s No. 1 doubles team of Lola Xiong and Holly Aspenson qualified at No. 1 singles with a 6-2, 6-1 victory, and Central’s No. 2 doubles team of Ava Rasmussen and Morgan Pacl and No. 3 doubles team of Cate Prescott and Alexis Engstrom qualified. Both won in straight sets.
DIVISION 2
West Salem Subsectional
WEST SALEM — Onalaska Luther will fill six brackets and West Salem four at Wednesday’s sectional at West Salem after singles and doubles victories at the subsectional on those same courts.
The Knights take 22 points to the sectional and qualifiers in all four singles brackets and two doubles brackets. No one outscored Luther at the meet, and West Salem is third after accumulating 14 and advancing four singles players and doubles teams.
Senior Emma Kolb (24-5) won her only match at No. 1 singles to qualify, and the senior No. 1 doubles team of Kenzie Olson and Keira Paus (23-6) did the same for the Knights. Senior Kendall Sullivan (24-1) at No. 1 singles and the senior team of Madison Elsen and Elise Schwarz (13-12) also won their only matches 6-0, 6-0 to qualify.
Luther also has qualifiers in sophomore Kate Elliot, sophomore Ellie Burnet and freshman Hannah Olson in singles and senior Grace Beyer and junior Shelby Erdmann in doubles.
Elliot (18-12) won her matches 6-0, 6-1 and 6-2, 6-1 at No. 2 singles, Burnet (17-13) won hers 6-1, 6-3 and 6-2, 6-3 at No. 3 singles, and Olson (16-15) posted 6-2, 6-1 and 6-2, 6-2 victories at No. 4 singles. Beyer and Erdmann (21-9) won 6-0, 6-0 and 6-3, 6-0 at No. 2 doubles.
West Salem also has sectional qualifiers in senior Madeline Schleppenbach in singles and seniors Brisha Briseno and Dillan Riste in doubles.
Schleppenbach (10-1) made it through in the No. 4 bracket with 6-1, 6-1 and 6-1, 6-2 victories. Briseno and Riste (21-9) won 6-0, 6-0 and 6-3, 6-0 in the No. 2 bracket.
