Douglas girls tennis team advances

GARDNERVILLE -- There were no surprises Tuesday afternoon when the Douglas High School girls tennis team defeated Tahoe-Truckee, 17.5-5, in the opening round of the Northern 4A Regional playoffs.

The Tigers swept through the first round of play and went on to win their playoff opener for the third year in a row on the Lampe Park courts.

Now comes the true test. Douglas travels to Galena on Thursday in an attempt to win in the semifinals for the first time. The Tigers will face a familiar foe since they lost an 11.5-11 heart breaker to Galena in the semifinals last year.

"We're excited to be playing them again," sophomore Melissa Oglesby said.

"They beat us last year, but we're not nervous. We're looking forward to this."

Douglas (8-1) finished second in the Sierra League and Galena (8-0) is the High Desert League champion. Past records don't matter now, though.

Two years ago, the Tigers defeated Galena 12.5-10 in the opening round of the playoffs but then lost to Reno in the semifinals.

"We've been so close in the past, now we have to take it all one point at a time," 10th year Douglas coach Dee Gosselin said.

Oglesby, who has lost only twice in conference this season, was 3-0 in the No. 1 singles slot to lead the Tigers. She opened with a 6-2 victory over Truckee's No. 1, Andrea Roegiers.

Meredith Fischer and Beth Coleman also won their first round singles matches while the teams of Devon and Daphne Bateman, Erin Wilson-Sharon Hoogestaart and Dominique Pacheco-Jae Hazik swept their doubles matches to give Douglas a 7.5-0 lead.

In the end, Gosselin put 14 of the 15 players on her roster into the match.

"We have pretty good depth," Gosselin said. "To get that many girls into a playoff match is pretty good."

The Bateman sisters, seniors who are in the playoffs for the third straight year, only gave up three games overall as they defeated three straight opponents.

"The kids all played well today," Gosselin said. "Galena has a good team, but if the kids play this well Thursday, we'll give them another run for their money."

PREP TENNIS

Northern 4A Regional Tournament

Douglas 17-1/2, Tahoe-Truckee 5

First round

Singles: Melissa Oglesby (D) d. Andrea Roegiers 6-2, Meredith Fischer (D) d.

Kara LaPoint 6-4, Beth Coleman (D) d. Kristen Deeter 6-1. Doubles: Daphne

Bateman-Devon Bateman (D) d. Shelly Ratto-Kasey LaPoint 6-0, Erin

Wilson-Sharon Hoogestaart (D) d. Kate Rose-Christie Miller 6-4, Dominique

Pacheco-Joe Hazik (D) d. Karson Koehneke-Lauren Nauman 6-4.

Second round

Singles: Oglesby (D) d. Kara LaPoint 6-1, Fischer (D) d. Deeter 6-0, Roegiers

(T) d. Coleman 6-3. Doubles: Bateman-Bateman (D) d. Rose-Miller 6-3,

Wilson-Hoogestraat (D) d. Koehneke-Nauman 7-5, Ratto-Kasey LaPoint (T) Alison

Rosingusi-Kristen Valentine 7-5.

Third round

Singles: Ashley Rund (D) d. Deeter 6-2, Roegiers (T) d. Fischer 6-0, Coleman

(D) d. Kara LaPoint 6-3. Doubles: Bateman-Bateman (D) d. Lauren

Faulkner-Koehneke 6-0, Kasey LaPoint-Ratto (T) d. April Crandall-Christina

Keegan 6-0, Rosingusi-Valentine (D) d. Rose-Miller 7-6 (7-4).

Record: Douglas 8-1.

Next match: Douglas at Galena, Thursday.