Amelia Ritger's fortunes pretty well told the story of where Northern Nevada tennis stands in the state.
While Douglas High's Ritger " like several other Northern Nevada players " were competitive enough, Friday's action in the NIAA 4A State Championships showed that the North understandably has a long way to go to catch up with the South. Reno High's Jeff Mullin was the only Northern Nevada player to advance to today's semifinals in boys and girls singles and doubles.
And after her 1-6, 3-6 loss to Gree Valley's Jessica Hsu at Centennial Park, Ritger knows she still has a long ways to go and said she's determined to work hard enough to make it there.
"I'll definitely be working all summer," said Ritger, a sophomore. "I'm definitely going to be working on my power shots a lot more."
And Ritger made progress from her first appearance at state last year in which she also lost to Hsu in the first round. "Last year I didn't really have a game plan," she said. "I was just happy to be here."
The fact that Ritger wasn't pleased after making the second set more competitive was actually a good sign as well. "I was just really off my game," she said.
Ritger broke Hsu' serve to take a 2-0 lead and after being broken, broke Hsu again to take a 3-1 lead.
"I wasn't really getting overconfident," Ritger said. "I just kept playing my game and she adapted to that."
Hsu fought back to force a 3-3 tie and that's when the turning point of the second set came. The game went to several deuces and Ritger had two game points to hold serve, but Hsu eventually was able to break Ritger for a 4-3 lead and went on to win 6-3. Ritger did save one match point before Hsu eventually prevailed.
Northern Nevada's other two singles players didn't fare any better as Galena's Hannah Llop lost to Canyon Springs' Rebecca Breland 0-6, 0-6. Llop can take solace in the fact that Breland has yet to lose a game in the zone or state playoffs as she also didn't drop a game on her way to winning the Sunrise section title.
Reno High's Shelly Tone lost to Bishop Gorman's Sara Toti, 3-6, 0-6. In today's semifinals, Toti and Bonanza's Alison Matlovic will face each other with the winner taking on the winner of Breland and Hsu for the title.
The strongest showing for the North came from Galena's Lindy Deller and Addie Potter, who won the only set for the North in girls singles and doubles before losing to Palo Verde's Shelby Zepeda and Nikki Booth 7-6 (7-4), 1-6, 1-6.
Galena's other doubles team of Emily McClintock and Leann Roggensack ran into the powerful team of Anita Lee and Sarah Beesen from Bishop Gorman and lost 0-6, 0-6. In today's semifinals, Lee and Beesen will face Coronado's Jordan Bruy and Jordan Luna and Zepeda and Booth will ace Silverado Kristen Santero and Nicole Santero.
In boys singles, Jeff Mullen beat Gorman's Andrew Raphaelson 6-2, 6-3, setting up what should be an entertaining semifinal against Palo Verde's Stan Breland, a 6-3, 6-4 winner over Manogue's Phillip Hinojosa.
Douglas High's James TenBroeck turned in a respectable showing in a 3-6, 4-6 loss to Green Valley's Evan Song, who will play Palo Verde's Bradon Parker in the semifinals. In boys doubles, Bonanza's Laurent Gontier and Sean Lettero will face Silverado's Dillon McNamara and Devon Morrissey and Gorman's Alec Thomas and Kyle Del Rosario will face Bonanza's Aashish Daulat and Andrew Whiting.
All of today's semifinals in boys and girls singles and doubles will begin at 9 a.m. at Carson High.
GORMAN 12, GALENA GIRLS 6
Gorman rolled to an 11-1 lead after two rounds on their way to winning the state title against Galena in the finals held at Centennial Park.
Lee and Beesen joined Toti to form a powerful trio in singles as they won all six matches in the first two rounds. The only win in the first two rounds for Galena came from Deller and Potter, who won 6-1 in the second round.
The closest Galena came to any other win in the first two rounds came in the first round when Roggensack and McClintock nearly broke through. Down 40-15, they came back to break for a 5-4 lead on Roggensack's winning volley. After falling behind 5-6, the saved a match point to force a tiebreaker, but eventually fell 6-7 (3-7).
Galena won five of six matches in the final round after Gorman substituted for its starters. Haley Llop won 6-0 and Mica Olson won 6-2 in singles for the Grizzlies.
In doubles, Deller and Potter won 6-0, McClintock and Roggensack won 6-1 and Annie Roach and Natasha Monga won 6-1 for Galena.
The only loss for Galena came when Cathryn Hansen couldn't quite break through after having match points with 5-3 and 6-5 leads. She eventually lost 6-7 (1-7).
Bonanza beat Coronado 13-5 to win the boys title.