Zone tennis begins

Douglas High senior Amber Oglesby and Carson sophomore Polly Johnson will try to take their first steps toward return trips to state today when the Northern 4A region tennis tournament begins in Reno.

Action begins with boys singles matches at 2:30 p.m. at the Plumas Tennis Center. The girls singles play starts at 4 p.m. and the first-round doubles matches are set to get under way Friday at 8 a.m. The tournament concludes on Saturday.

The top four finishers in each of the singles and doubles divisions earn the right to return to Reno for the NIAA/U.S. Bank State Tournament next weekend.

Oglesby, who is bidding for her third state berth, is the Sierra League's No. 2 girls singles seed after posting a 12-1 regular season record. Oglesby's only loss came to Bishop Manogue's Lara Burgarello.

Meanwhile, Carson's Johnson drew the Sierra League No. 3 seed. Johnson finished third at zone last year, including her first-ever win over Oglesby.

Douglas has two other seeded players in girls singles: No. 6 Kristen Garzapena and No. 8 Samantha Barnes. Garzapena, a senior, faces the possibility of a quarterfinal match against Oglesby.

Douglas, which lost to Reno by a single match in the region team tournament semifinals on Monday, also has two seeded doubles teams: No. 5 Katie Coyler-Cassandra Cushing and No. 8 Ariel Finch-Kati Eilers.

Two Carson boys are seeded coming into today's action: No. 3 Martin Ellis and No. 6 Josh Brekken. Ellis is a senior.