Summit boys tennis heads to Class 5A state tournament aiming for its ninth team title

Published 5:15 pm Thursday, May 18, 2023

With the No. 1 overall seed and four doubles teams qualifying for the Class 5A boys tennis state championships, Summit coach Jake Oelrich has good reason to feel confident heading into the two-day tournament in Beaverton.

“We are crossing our fingers and seeing how it will play out,” Oelrich said. “We know that it is going to take a couple of really big matches for us to win as a team.”

The Storm is seeking its ninth state team title after winning their first in 2009.

The 5A tournament will be held at two different Beaverton locations. Friday’s matches will be played at the West Hills Racquet and Fitness Club and Saturday’s will be held at the Babette Horenstein Tennis Center.

Summit will be going for its first state title since 2018, when the Storm had won five consecutive 5A titles before making the jump to the 6A classification for 2019 to 2022.

Not only does Summit have a chance at a team title, the bracket seeding indicates that the Storm have the potential to do something that has only happened twice in school history — claim a state championship in both singles and doubles.

Senior Ben Bonetto, the Intermountain Conference champion, is the top-seeded singles player, and the IMC-champion pair of senior Zack Olander and junior Max Himstreet are the top-seeded doubles team in the 16-team field.

“Winning individually would be really cool,” Olander said. “But if we won as a team it would be more fun. I love everyone on this team and I want to win for them, especially my senior year, it would be a great feeling.”

The Storm is sending three additional doubles teams to the state tournament.

Aidan MacLennan and Otto Haar are the tournament’s No. 4 seed and were one of only two doubles teams to win a set against Olander and Himstreet this season.

Also qualifying in the doubles competition for Summit are Jesse Deperro and Ethan Nguyen, and Noah Smith and Alex Lindsay.

Two more IMC boys tennis players qualified in the singles tournament in Redmond senior Tanner Jones and Caldera sophomore Aiden Cruz, who is the No. 4 seed.

After finishing third at last year’s state tournament, Ridgeview’s doubles team of Rachel Lester and Sydney Cassaro did not receive a seed in the 5A girls state tournament. The three-time IMC doubles champions are one of four IMC doubles teams to reach the tournament. Summit has two girls doubles teams in Margaret Wheary and Joanne Porter, and Taylor English and Ella Taft, and Redmond’s Brynn Capps and Grace Stott also join the 16-team field.

Bend High’s Ashlee Holland, Summit’s Audrey Miller and Stella Williams, along with Redmond’s Naya Lewis will all compete in the singles field, needing to win three matches to claim a state title.

In the 4A/3A/2A/1A championships held at Oregon State University in Corvallis, Sisters’ Juhree Kizziar and Brooke Harper qualified for girls singles, while the Madras team of Juan Olivera and Matias Ruiz Jr. qualified in boys doubles.