Entering the state tournament in Seattle, W.F. West’s Ellie Mittge had two goals.
“My first goal was to make it to day two,” Mittge said. “My second goal was to medal.”
She won both her first-round matchup and her quarterfinal on Friday to ensure both of those things, and on Saturday, she bounced back from a semifinal loss to win the 3rd/6th match to finish third at the 2A State Girls Singles Tournament.
It’s the highest that any W.F. West singles tennis player, male or female, has finished at state.
“I am very proud and very excited,” Mittge said. “It was something I was hoping would happen, but not something I was expecting. I’m so grateful for the experience.”
Mittge lost just one game in her first-round win, but had to battle back after dropping all six games of her quarterfinal to win 6-3, 0-6, 6-2.
“I definitely had a lot of unforced errors in the second set,” MIttge said. “I tried to really focus on my goal. So that kept going through my mind.”
She lost in the semifinal 2-6, 3-6, but reset and won the 3rd/6th match 6-3, 7-5.
“She was confident in her skills and did what she does best,” W.F. West coach Megan Wellander said. “She took her time to reset, get out there and give it her all.”
“I am extremely proud,” Wellander continued. “That is exactly what we wanted her to do. We couldn’t be more excited and thrilled for her. Of all the people to deserve it, she is the most humble. For her to get the accolades she deserves is just perfect.”
In the fall, Mittge is heading to Washington State University to study nursing, something she said she feels more prepared for because of her tennis journey.
“I cannot express how grateful I am for the experiences and the coaches,” Mittge said. “I’ve been able to grow as a person through these sports. Words cannot express how grateful I am.”
Mittge wasn’t the only local tennis player to take third at state, as Centralia’s Zander Corwin also went 3-1 en route to a third-place finish in the 2A State Boys Singles Tournament.
Corwin won his first-round matchup 6-2, 6-1 before winning his quarterfinal 6-1, 7-6 (7-3). After falling in two sets in the semis, he lost just two games across two sets in the 3rd/6th match.
Also medaling on the boys singles side was Tumwater’s Bodie Jackson. He won his first-round matchup 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 before losing in the quarterfinals, but he bounced back with a 6-4, 6-4 win to put him in the 4th/7th match.
He lost that match, but still left Seattle with the seventh-place medal.
On the doubles side, Tumwater’s Adela Schmiedeberg and Ashlyn Spencer won their first-round matchup 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 before losing their next two to fall one win shy of a state medal.
Tumwater’s Max Bunn and Keith Cox lost two matches to finish two wins shy of a medal.
