Onalaska High School junior Mara Klein was added to the Division 1 singles bracket for the upcoming WIAA individual state tournament as an extra qualifier and will join a handful of players who qualified directly from sectional play at the Nielsen Tennis Center in Madison this week.
Klein will join Onalaska Luther seniors Emma Kolb, Kenzie Olson and Keira Paus, Aquinas senior Tenzin Nelson and West Salem senior Kendall Sullivan in the tournament, which begins Thursday and concludes Saturday.
Klein and Nelson will play in the Division 1 singles bracket, and Nelson (26-2) has been awarded a No. 16 seed.
Nelson opens up against Superior junior Lily Clark (23-2) at 10:30 a.m. Thursday. A win gets her a second-round match at 3:30 p.m. the same day.
Klein (16-8) will match up with Sun Prairie West sophomore Mya Mommaerts (23-1) in the first round at 12:15 p.m. Thursday. Her second-round match if she wins takes place at 4:30 p.m.
The remaining local qualifiers will compete in Division 2.
Kolb (28-4) begins her singles bracket with a first-round match against Waukesha Catholic Memorial junior Grace Schreiber (18-9), an extra qualifier. They start at 5:45 p.m. Thursday with the winner moving on to Friday competition. Sullivan (26-2) plays Madison Edgewood sophomore Abigail Barker (13-8) — an extra qualifier — in a first-round match at 5:15 p.m. Thursday with the hope to advance to Friday.
Olson and Paus (25-7) have the latest first-round match with a 7 p.m. Thursday start against Stevens Point Pacelli freshman Vivian Bell and junior Maddy Pionek (8-6). Berna and Pionek make a team that was chosen as an extra qualifier.
