Tennis players compete at state championships

The men and women opened state championship tournament play at Ojai on Thursday with mixed results.  For the men, Sean Alves (seeded #3 North) had a first round bye, then won his next two matches (against San Diego City and Cerritos) to reach the final 16.  His next match will be Friday afternoon against south #8 seed from Irvine Valley.  Shawn Morgan (unseeded) lost his opening round match in three sets, 6-3, 3-6, 4-6.  The doubles team of Morgan/ Praj Ta won their first match (vs Grossmont) 6-3, 6-4 before losing to south #7 seed Saddleback, 1-6, 3-6.  The team of Kevin Conley /Francisco Garcia lost to south #9 seed Riverside 2-6, 2-6.

On the women's side, Hannah Crookham won her opening match  (vs Antelope valley) by default, then lost to south #3 seed Orange Coast 1-6, 0-6.  Sophie Taber lost to El Camino 0-6, 2-6, and Anjelica Frank defeated San Diego Mesa 6-4, 6-0 before losing to north #5 Fresno City 0-6, 1-6.  In doubles, the team of Crookham/Taber lost a grueling three-set match to Grossmont 6-1, 2-6, 11-13.  Michelle Doyle/Reneer Balingit lost to #10 south Riverside 0-6, 1-6, and Anjelica/Arielle Frank lost a close match to Santa Barbara, 4-6, 4-6.