Juneau-Douglas High School junior Sami Good and freshman Erica Hurtte stunned Alaska\u2019s top-seeded high school girls doubles team Saturday to win the Alaska School Activities Association First National Bank state tennis championship.<\/p>\n
Good and Hurtte avenged an early season 6-2, 6-0 loss to West High School\u2019s Eva Lekander and Allie Haynes with an impressive dismantling of the talented Eagles\u2019 duo by the score of 6-2, 6-4.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just learned their weaknesses,\u201d Good said. \u201cHow to get in their head and stuff. After we lost to them we practiced a lot, because we knew they would be our biggest competition. … We just came out with everything we had. That is probably what made us win.\u201d<\/p>\n
With the No. 2 seed in the state tournament, Good and Hurtte defeated West\u2019s Felicity Bidwell and Shannon Croft 6-0, 6-0 in the opening match; then topped Chugiak\u2019s Hibiki Shibata and Maggie Krafft in the semi-finals 6-1, 6-4.<\/p>\n
Top-seeded Lekander and Haynes stopped Lathrop\u2019s Anna Kardash and Amara Hackett 6-0, 6-2 to open tourney play and then edged Dimond\u2019s Roslyn McCormack and Piper Laudon in the semi-finals 6-0, 6-0.<\/p>\n
The balcony seating was full to watch the titles clash.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t that bad,\u201d Hurtte said. \u201cI was a bit nervous considering how many people were in the balcony watching, but once I am in the match, I don\u2019t really pay attention and it is just all about what is happening right then.\u201d<\/p>\n
Good and Hurtte broke West\u2019s service twice in the first set and once in the second. <\/p>\n
The game plan was to approach the net as much as possible and play to the weaker of their two opponents.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was so relieved we didn\u2019t have to play a third set,\u201d Good said. \u201cIt didn\u2019t really hit me until we got off the court and my mom was there and she and Erica started crying.\u201d<\/p>\n
Good\u2019s mom is assistant coach Anne Kincheloe.<\/p>\n
\u201cI did not even know it was the final point,\u201d Hurtte said. \u201cEverybody started cheering and it was a lot of relief. I couldn\u2019t believe what had happened. It was a neat feeling. Once I got off the court it was a lot of relief. I was really happy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kincheloe said the water works started with a hug.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were shaking when they got off the court,\u201d Kincheloe said. \u201cThis is very exciting. I was very proud of these girls for playing smart out there and having a game plan that they stuck to.\u201d<\/p>\n
Having two fewer courts at the Juneau Racquet Club\/Alaska Club Valley this season also contributed to the win. The Crimson Bears were forced to have more kids on doubles play and use their court time efficiently.<\/p>\n
This was Good\u2019s third trip to state and Hurtte\u2019s first. In 2013, Good and Kathe Tallmadge placed third in girls doubles. In 2014, she and Jon Scudder were upset in their opening mixed doubles match and went on to lose the consolation final.<\/p>\n
\u201cI did pretty good for a freshman,\u201d Good said. \u201cBut then, last year, I did pretty bad. I knew the competition and how much pressure there was with a balcony full of people watching. I just tried to keep us calm. I wanted to win because of how bad we played last year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last season Hurtte practiced with the JDHS team as an eighth grader and was considered one of the best players, boys or girls, on the Crimson Bears\u2019 team.<\/p>\n
Hurtte brings a consistency to the team. She credited their state win to \u201cRallying with ground strokes, placement of balls and … just playing smart.\u201d<\/p>\n
Said Good: \u201cI try to be positive when one of us is not doing as well. I just try to talk us up. Erica is a stronger server. I probably play stronger at the net.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Crimson Bears\u2019 mixed doubles team of seniors Katherine Kane and Derek Dzinich fell to West\u2019s Elana Fortson and David Woo 6-0, 6-0, and lost in the consolation bracket to East\u2019s Robbie Brewer and Olivia Grant 8-2.<\/p>\n
In boy\u2019s singles, JDHS junior Kelson Rounds-McPherson topped Palmer\u2019s Johnie Burton 7-5, 2-6, 1-0 and lost in the semi-finals to South\u2019s No. 2 seed Joseph Hemry 6-0, 6-0. <\/p>\n
In boy\u2019s doubles, JDHS senior Anton Rieselbach and sophomore Kolby Hoover opened play with a 6-3, 6-2 loss to top-seeded Brandon Vanlandingham and Brian Ely of West Valley, and then won a consolation match 8-6 over Lathrop\u2019s Jake Roselus and Sam Greenberg. They lost in consolation semi-finals 8-6 to South\u2019s Tom Hanks and Chris Bailey.<\/p>\n
Past JDHS state tennis champions have included Brian Vandor and Laurel Messerschmidt in mixed doubles in 2009; Merijke Coenraad and Steffan Wilcox in mixed doubles in 2008; and Hong Kong exchange student Ling Chan in women\u2019s singles in 2007, the first-ever girl\u2019s singles state championship, as 2007 was the inaugural tournament. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think next year Erica will probably play singles,\u201d Good said. \u201cShe is that good. I will probably play mixed doubles with Kolby (Hoover).\u201d<\/p>\n
With their state championship medals in hand the duo planned their night.<\/p>\n
\u201cDinner,\u201d Hurtte said.<\/p>\n
Added Good: \u201cAnd a shower.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Juneau-Douglas High School junior Sami Good and freshman Erica Hurtte stunned Alaska\u2019s top-seeded high school girls doubles team Saturday to win the Alaska School Activities Association First National Bank state tennis championship. Good and Hurtte avenged an early season 6-2, 6-0 loss to West High School\u2019s Eva Lekander and Allie Haynes with an impressive dismantling […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":6,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-23170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23170"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23170\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23170"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=23170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}