Fallon’s doubles team of Edmond Allyn (pictured) and Samuel Lords finished second on Saturday in the 3A Northern region tournament and will compete in the state tournament, which begins Thursday in Las Vegas.
Photo by Thomas Ranson.
Two Greenwave tennis doubles teams are on their way to the state tournament this weekend in Las Vegas.
Seniors Edmond Allyn and Samuel Lords qualified on the boys side and came from behind in Saturday’s semifinal to advance to the Northern 3A League championship at the Tahoe Donner Tennis Center in Truckee. For the girls, the senior duo of Thalia Mortensen-De La Cruz and Kasey Lattin qualified and finished third, one spot ahead of their No. 4 seed.
The Class 3A state tournament is Thursday and Friday at Bishop Gorman High School.
The boys doubles bracket quarterfinals start at 1 p.m. followed by the girls doubles at 2:30 p.m. The semifinals are on Friday at 9 a.m. followed by the championship and third-place matches at 11:30 a.m.
After winning straight sets on Friday to qualify for the state tournament, Allyn and Lords rallied in the semifinals to take down Hug’s Ricky Pacheco and Franklin Ladaga, the No. 6 seed who upset No. 3 Tyler Whisler and J.P. Chaney from North Tahoe with a three-set thriller, including a tiebreaker in the final set, to advance to state.
Allyn and Lords, after losing 7-4 in a first-set tiebreaker to the Hug duo, rallied to win 6-4 and 6-3 Saturday morning to advance to the championship match against South Tahoe’s Ralston Pierce and Brodie Wallisch, the No. 1 seed. The South Tahoe team won 6-1 and 6-3.
Allyn and Lords will take on No. 3 Chandler Shamo and Carson Alder from Boulder City in Thursday’s quarterfinal round.
On Friday, Allyn and Lords swept South Tahoe’s Jay Feeney and Jaedunn Aquino, 7-5 and 6-2, before taking down North Valleys’ Daniel Herron and William Findlay, 6-2 and 6-3.
Mortensen-De La Cruz and Lattin swept their opponents in the first two rounds to set up a semifinal match with No. 1 Naomi Park and Ava Phelan, a pair of Truckee singles players who teamed up for the tournament. The Fallon team defeated South Tahoe’s Desiree Tumbaga and Rebecca Davis, 6-3 and 6-0, in the Round of 16 before holding off the No. 5 seed, Taylore Seline and Callie Schatz of Truckee, 7-5 and 6-4 late Friday. The win punched Mortensen-De La Cruz and Lattin’s ticket to Las Vegas.
Park and Phelan, though, were unstoppable all weekend.
The Truckee doubles team never lost a set to win the championship, losing no more than two games in a single set. Mortensen-De La Cruz and Lattin were the biggest challenge for Park and Phelan, falling 6-2 in the first set before losing 6-0. The Fallon pair upset the No. 3 seed, Katerina Speicher and Lucia Zuniga of Hug, to win the third-place match, 6-3 and 6-1.
Mortensen-De La Cruz and Lattin, seeded No. 3 from the North, will face the South’s No. 2 seed, Boulder City’s Chayce Larson and Madi Morris, in Thursday’s quarterfinal.
Also competing in doubles for Fallon’s girls were No. 8 Abigail Golman and Jeana Lee, who defeated Incline’s Margaret McAndrews and Annabelle Link, 6-1 and 6-2, in the Round of 16. They fell to the league champions, 6-0 and 6-1, in the quarterfinals.
In singles for both Fallon teams, No. 8 Mattia Pooli won his first match over North Tahoe’s Tyler Rantz, 7-5 and 6-4, before falling to No. 1 Brennan Monroe of South Tahoe, 6-0 and 6-3. For the girls, No. 8 Ashlyn Jimenez defeated Incline’s Zara MacDonald, 6-0 and 6-4, before falling to No. 1 Emily Huff of North Valleys, 6-3 and 6-0. Fallon’s AshLynn Gilman lost her first match to South Tahoe’s Gabby Lancellotti, 6-4 and 6-0.
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