Olympia High School's boys tennis doubles duo Jerry Yen and Brian Yen qualified for the district tournament with a second-place finish at the South Puget Sound League Tournament on Friday, Oct. 16 and Saturday, Oct. 17 at the University of Puget Sound Tennis Pavilion in Tacoma.
Brian Yen is the first freshman to represent Olympia at districts in 10 years. The brothers will be seeded No. 2 at the district tournament, which begins Oct. 31 at the Boeing Tennis Center in Renton.
In the Round of 16, the Yen brothers rolled to a 6-2, 6-0, victory over Yelm's Aiden Walton and Josiah Leonard before cruising to a 6-3, 6-0, win in the quarterfinals. They punched their ticket to the title match with a 7-5, 6-5, triumph in the semifinals but fell in the finals 6-1, 6-2, to Curtis' Tim Grossenbach and Hamin Kim.
Walton and Leonard won their qualifying-round matchup in three sets to advance to the Round of 16. They were eliminated in the consolation round 1-6, 1-6.
Also in the doubles bracket, Brandon Phan and Tristan Reck won 6-1, 6-0, in the opening round on Friday and in a third-set tiebreaker in the qualifying round to advance to the Round of 16. They lost to Grossenbach and Kim 0-6, 0-6, in the Round of 16, and they battled in the consolation round but lost in a third-set tiebreaker. Evan Guan and James Smith also prevailed 6-2, 6-1, in the qualifying round then lost in the Round of 16 2-6, 3-6, and in the consolation round 6-7, 3-6.
Yelm's Chance Whiting and Deegan Anderson lost in the opening round 3-6, 3-6.
In the singles bracket, Olympia's Nijel Kikuta advanced to the Round of 16 with a 6-2, 6-4, victory in the qualifying round over Spanaway Lake's Denis Scolnic on Friday. Kikuta lost both of his matches in the double-elimination bracket in third-set tiebreakers.
Olympia's Nick O'Sullivan won his opening round matchup 6-1, 6-2, against South Kitsap's Zach Hickle before being eliminated in the qualifying round in a third-set tiebreaker to Emerald Ridge's Kai Vea. Olympia's Henry Li and Yelm's Miles Ackerman were both eliminated in the opening round.
Yelm's Tanner Elmore was eliminated in the opening round by Bonney Lake's Savva Bogatov 1-6, 4-6.
