The Jackson boys tennis team added to a string of impressive runs at State with another title, taking home the 4A team crown on Saturday in Kennewick. It marked the Timberwolves’ third title in five seasons, joining 2022 and 2024, and their fourth title overall.
Junior Arhan Sinha, who placed sixth with senior doubles partner Ashton Bergman, was pleasantly surprised to take home the gold kind of hardware from Eastern Washington.
“We’re very excited,” Sinha said, “We came in with pretty high expectations… we weren’t really thinking that we’d win it all.”
With doubles teams David Song/Anderson Stark and Bergman/Sinha reaching the semis while sophomore Sam Song, in his first State action, reached the singles’ fourth-place game, the Timberwolves just needed one win on Saturday morning to be crowned team champs.
Both doubles squads ran into stiff competition from Mead High School’s teams and fell, leaving Jackson’s title hopes to Sam Song.
The sophomore said he was in no mood to keep playing after losing a three-set quarterfinal match to a training partner in Woodinville’s Maxwell Ferka. Still, head coach David Hutt reminded him of the stakes when he entered the consolation bracket.
“We talked about it all the time, saving it to Saturday. I always tell the kids, if you get to Saturday, you feel good. You may not be happy that you’re not first or second in the state individually, but if you make it to Saturday, you’re going to place,” Hutt said.
With that in mind, Sam Song took down Gonzaga Prep’s Tiernan Waggoner in two sets in a loser-out consolation match to reach Saturday’s fourth-place match. The younger Song brother had missed out on State with an ankle injury the year prior, and was making his first run on the big stage count.
He didn’t need much more motivation when he took on Kamiakin’s William Stratton.
He knew that one of Jackson’s representatives had to win on Saturday and that the doubles squads had gone down. Evidently, the losses sent Song/Stark and Bergman/Sinha to a third-place match against one another during Sam’s match.
Despite the pressure, Sam downed Stratton 6-1, 6-3 to clinch the title, while Song/Stark claimed third over their teammates 6-1, 6-0.
“We won as a team,” Sam Song said. “It’s an individual sport, (but) playing as a team really brings a great experience.”
The fall-to-spring timeline meant some quick training for each player, as Bergman and Sinha had just 10 days to work with one another after Bergman stole two bases in his last game for Jackson baseball just over a week prior on May 14.
In all, Song/Stark took third, Bergman/Sinha claimed sixth and Sam Song took fourth to earn Jackson 23 placement points. It was just enough to edge out Mead’s 21 team points.
Shorewood wins first 3A state title
Arnie Moreno had no idea.
As he watched Riley Boyd and Eli Sheffield battle for fifth place at the state 3A boys tennis tournament in Vancouver on Saturday, the longtime Shorewood coach was solely focused on giving the tandem pointers as they dueled Shorecrest’s Ashton Johnson and Zane Weber.
As the third set came to a close, Moreno overheard nearby coaches discussing the implications of a Shorewood win on Saturday morning.
It would mean the first 3A boys tennis state title in school history.
Indeed, Boyd and Sheffield, well aware of what was on the line, won to cap off a 23-point team performance from Shorewood to narrowly clinch the title over second-place Interlake (22 points) and third-place Mercer Island (21 points).
“Just the biggest smiles you’ve ever seen in your life,” Moreno said of his players’ reactions to the news. “I don’t know if they were surprised, but they were stunned.”
Boyd could barely believe it.
“It’s pretty surreal. Honestly, it’s just hard to believe it even happened,” Boyd told The Herald on Tuesday morning. “We’re just still in disbelief that we were able to pull this off.”
To set up the win, singles qualifiers Seb Sanchez and Xander Gordon each made it to the quarterfinals before losing, as Sanchez fell to eventual singles champion Deepinder Singh of Interlake. The two Stormrays then won a consolation match each to meet in the fourth-place game, with the loser taking seventh.
Gordon won in two sets (6-3, 6-0) to claim fourth, while Sanchez placed seventh after being eliminated in the first round last season. Sanchez’s composure to earn his team key points stood out to Gordon — Sanchez had represented Shorewood in State swimming over the winter.
“He did really good. He held his own, fought the nerves off if there were any from him,” Gordon said of Sanchez.
As for Gordon, he had just a month to prepare for State after breaking his left wrist over the winter. Though his backhand was still on the mend, Gordon was able to power through for a placement.
Boyd and Sheffield were both pleased with the fifth-place finishes after placing seventh in consecutive seasons. After Gordon and Sanchez finished their matches, they went outside to watch the duo battle for the title.
“Really, I think everyone from Wesco in general was watching that match, because it was like everyone knew at that point it was the match to win State,” Gordon said.
With the pressure mounting on Shorewood’s tandem, who had arrived at State alongside fellow duo Drew Johnson and Zack Binz, Sheffield centered himself.
“I kind of told myself during the match that no what happened, I was going to be emotional either way,” Sheffield said. “So that kind of took the nerves out of the match a little bit for me.”
Indeed, Boyd and Sheffield recovered from a 6-7 (9-11) loss in the first set to win 6-3, 7-5.
“Winning that match and knowing that was what won our team the state championship was a crazy feeling,” Sheffield said. “Being able to look over to the side of the court and see all of our families, our athletic director (Joann Fukuma), our coaches, all of them jumping around, cheering was just crazy… one of the best moments I’ve had in my life for sure.”
