The Hawken doubles team of freshman Dani Forte and sophomore Bella Hsieh placed fourth at the 2022 OHSAA Division II state championships at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason on Saturday.
Forte and Hsieh finished 2-2 in their first state tournament experience.
They opened the tournament with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Lima Bath’s Elena and Anne Oliver, and then advanced to the semifinals with a 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 back-and-forth victory over Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy’s Mika Morris and Payton Puryear.
The Hawken duo dropped into the third-place match with a 6-1, 6-2 setback to CHCA’s Ananya Annapantula and Addison Cassidy, who finished as the Division II doubles state runner-up.
Forte and Hsieh closed out their state tournament run with a 7-5, 6-2 loss to Hathaway Brown’s Ally and Kate Mills, the 2021 state runners-up.
Hawken senior Eliana Yang and junior Hayley Garber drew the CHCA team of Annapantula and Cassidy in the first round and fell, 6-1, 6-2.
Yang and Garber now are 1-3 in three state tournament runs.
Perry sophomore Audrey Austin and junior Lily Walker teamed up to finish 1-1 in their first state tournament experience.
They opened the tournament with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Lima Central Catholic’s Paige Brinkman and Claire Janowski then fell to event state champions Macy and Mallory Hitchcock in the second round, 6-0, 6-0.
In singles play, Orange senior Blake Rothchild dropped her state tournament opener to Ottawa Hills junior Catherine Rhegness, 7-6, 6-1. Classmate Alexis Nyborg went 1-1 in her fourth straight trip to the state championships. She closes out her career with a state tournament record of 7-5 with a state runner-up finish in 2021 and a fourth-place finish as a sophomore.
