GIRLS STATE: Meadows, Coronado roll into final

RENO — Neither Coronado nor The Meadows ever has won a girls Class 4A state tennis championship.

One of them will this season.

The Meadows beat Reno 13-5, and Coronado beat South Tahoe 14-4 Thursday in the Class 4A state semifinals at the Caughlin Club. The Mustangs and Cougars will meet for the state championship at noon Friday.

For The Meadows, which plays in Class 2A in most other sports, this is the team’s first trip to the state tournament, while Coronado last was there in 2007, losing in the finals.

“I’m really excited for my girls to be in position to win a state title,” said Luther Bohanan, in his first year coaching Coronado’s girls team.

To get it, however, they’ll have to get past a Mustangs team that is relishing the chance to compete and win against the biggest schools in the state.

“It’s very special to be here,” The Meadows coach Maggie Yahner. “It’s special for them and special for the school, too.”

Taler Brazell and Amanda Brazell each went 3-0 as The Meadows collected eight points in singles to key the win over Reno. Singles player Austin McMillan went 2-1, as did the doubles teams of Anjali Daulat and McKay Novak, and Erika Mauban and Shilpa Daulat.

Yahner said she was glad the match was so competitive, allowing for her team to quickly get a feel for what the state tournament is like.

 

“If you’re going to compete, you want to have good matches,” she said.

Coronado also won eight singles matches against South Tahoe, with Gabby Smith and Paris Reese both going 3-0 and Chrissy Uriarte going 2-0. In doubles, Nicole Gardner and Sarah Pate were 3-0, and Lea Cohen and Paige Nisson went 2-0.

“I have three good singles players going in, and I was confident they would perform well, and they did,” Bohanan said. “I was pleased with that, and my doubles teams played well, and I was able to play everybody, which is most important.”

Coronado and The Meadows did not play each other this season, but several players on each team are familiar with each other.

Yahner expects a competitive match this afternoon. “It’s going to come down to who wants it more,” she said. “We’re fairly evenly matched.”