Raymundo Frasquillo Photo/Gila Herald: Savanna Clonts sees the ball into her racquet for a return. The Safford senior posted a 9-2 seeding mark and is one of two Bulldogs entered in the state singles tourney.
Individual tourneys for singles, and doubles started Friday
By Raymundo Frasquillo
TUCSON – The Thatcher Eagles face the Pusch Ridge Christian Lions in the quarterfinal round of the state playoffs on Tuesday, May 2. The No. 6 Eagles (11-3 seeding, 11.0980 rating) fell 3-6 to the No. 3 Lions (14-1, 17.4287) in Tucson during early March.
Thatcher eliminated No. 11 Tucson Tanque Verde (8-4, 6.5956) 5-0 while Pusch Ridge ousted No. 14 Safford (8-5, 5.6296) by an identical score during the first round on April 25.
The other Section I first-round participant No. 8 Willcox (11-2, 9.8768) was blanked 5-0 by No. 9 Gilbert Christian (10-3, 9.8714).
State Tourney
The Top 16 ranked teams and section champions qualified and met in the first round on April 25 at the higher seed. The quarterfinals are at the higher seed on May 2; the semifinals on May 5 and the finals on May 6 both at the Glendale Paseo Racquet Center, 6268 West Thunderbird Road.
Section I, Section IV, and Section VI had three teams apiece in the Top 16; Section II, Section V, and Section VII had two each; and Section III had one for the first round.
The quarterfinals have two Section VII teams still in contention while Sections I, II, III, IV, V, and VI have one apiece.
Other quarterfinalist round pairings include No. 9 Gilbert Christian (10-3, 9.8714) at No. 1 Chandler Prep (8-2, 20.2969), No. 5 Phoenix Country Day School (11-1, 13.2329) at No. 4 Scottsdale Prep (11-1, 16.3827), and No. 15 Flagstaff Northland Prep (6-4, 4.5464) at No. 10 Glendale Prep (12-1, 8.1334).
Also eliminated in the first round were No. 16 Tucson’s The Gregory School (8-2, 3.8903), 5-0 by Chandler Prep; No. 13 Phoenix Veritas Prep (9-4. 5.8990), 5-1 by Scottsdale Prep; No. 12 Gilbert Classical (7-4, 6.5643), 5-0 by Phoenix Country Day; No. 7 Anthem Prep (10-2, 10.6075), 5-2 by Glendale Prep; and No. 2 Flagstaff Basis (10-0, 17.5775), 5-3 by Northland Prep.
Individual State Tourneys
A total of 20 Section I student-athlete girls will be competing in the state individual tourneys, six in singles and 14 in doubles, at the Glendale Paseo Racquet Center.
The singles tourney round one started at 1 p.m. and round two at 5:30 p.m. on April 28; the quarterfinals start at 1 p.m. and semifinals at 4 p.m. on Friday, April 29, and finals at 5 p.m. on Monday, May 1.
Doubles had a 2:30 p.m. round one start and 5:30 p.m. round two start on April 28; quarterfinals start at 1 p.m. and semifinals at 4 p.m. on April 29, and final at 5 p.m. on May 1.
The singles entrants are Thatcher freshman Sophia Haynie (13-1) and sophomore Kayla Turley (11-3), Safford seniors Kali Gluyas () and Savanna Clonts (6-0, 3-0), and Willcox juniors Mia Mungaro (11-2) and Valerie Durazo (11-2).
Doubles teams include Thatcher seniors Maren Hatch – Lindsey McMaster (8-3) and juniors Maddie Scarborough – Zoey Damron (8-2), Duncan senior Kaylee Kempton – sophomore Emily Kempton (11-0), Safford juniors Hazel Green – Rachel Peterson (7-3), Willcox senior Kennedy Peterson – junior Marissa Paz (8-3), Morenci senior Cambri McCauley – junior Anita Gonzalez (6-8), and Pima sophomores Kennedy Minor – Mia Ashby (4-8).
The Kempton – Kempton duo is ranked fifth and the Hatch – McMaster duo is seventh.
Final State Rankings
The final Division III state rankings as of noon on April 19 had three teams from Section I, Section IV, and Section VI in the Top 16; two from Section II, Section V, and Section VII; and one from Section III.
The teams were Section IV Chandler Prep (13-0 seeding, 20.2969 rating) was No. 1, Section VI Flagstaff Basis (10-0, 17.5775) No. 2, Section II Tucson Pusch Ridge Christian (14-1, 17.4287) No. 3, Section V Scottsdale Prep (11-1, 16.3827) No. 4, Section VII Phoenix Country Day School (11-1, 13.2329) No. 5, Section I Thatcher (11-3, 11.0980) No. 6, Section VI Anthem Prep (10-2, 10.6075) No. 7, and Section I Willcox (11-2, 9.8768) No. 8.
Section IV Gilbert Christian (10-3, 9.8714) was No. 9, Section VII Glendale Prep (12-1, 8.1334) No. 10, Section II Tucson Tanque Verde (8-4, 6.5956) No. 11, Section IV Gilbert Classical (7-4, 6.5643) No. 12, Section V Phoenix Veritas Prep (9-4. 5.8990) No. 13, Section I No. 14 Safford (8-5, 5.6296), Section VI Flagstaff Northland Prep (6-4, 4.5464) No. 15, and Section III Tucson’s The Gregory School (8-2, 3.8903) No. 16.
The other state rankings for Section I members were Duncan (7-4, 3.2530) No. 17, Morenci (5-9, minus 0.87068) No. 26, Pima (4-10, minus 3.0007) No. 30, and Benson (1-11, minus 8.0235) No. 39.
