Gorman’s Lucas Hammond, Durango’s Averiana Mitchell secure spots in Class 4A state tennis tourney

Bishop Gorman’s Lucas Hammond and Durango’s Averiana Mitchell earned the final two singles spots in the Class 4A state tennis tournaments by winning play-in matches at Darling Tennis Center on Tuesday.

Hammond, who finished third in the Sunset Region tournament, downed Coronado’s Ethan Quandt, 6-2, 6-1 in the boys singles play-in match. Quandt finished third in the Sunrise Region tournament.

Mitchell topped Liberty’s Madison Knoblock, 6-3, 6-4 to earn a spot in the state quarterfinals, which begin Friday at Darling Tennis Center.

Desert Oasis’ Caiden Jacob and Tyler Parlade grabbed the final spot in the boys doubles quarterfinals with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Liberty’s Kevin Blomquist and Garrison Burk.

Coronado’s Carly Poste and Ava Nhiasi prevented a Sunset sweep of the play-ins by topping Gorman’s Courtney Wolfson and Emma Figueredo, 6-3, 6-3 in the girls doubles match.

Final spots in the Class 3A state quarterfinals also were determined Tuesday with fifth-place matches in the Southern Region tournament at Darling Center.

Desert Pines’ Treasure Nyame outlasted Moapa Valley’s Chase Hadley, 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 in boys singles.

In girls singles, Cheyenne’s Ludovica Piccioli downed teammate Kennedy Vincent, 6-1, 6-3.

In boys doubles, The Meadows’ Peyton Sachs and Ahmed Nadeem defeated Boulder City’s Tanner Montgomery and Karson Bailey, 7-6 (7), 6-1.

Boulder City’s Natalie Bowman and Katelyn Fox grabbed the final girls doubles spot with a 6-4, 7-6 (5) victory over The Meadows’ Elena Paradiso and Shayna Indyg.