Tennis: TenBroeck siblings claim regional titles
Sophomore James TenBroeck and freshman Kari TenBroeck wrote themselves into the Douglas High School record books Saturday afternoon at the Caughlin Club in Reno.
The siblings claimed their respective Northern 4A Regional singles championships, with Kari defeating teammate and two-time defending champ Amelia Ritger 6-4, 6-2 to win the girls' title, and James defeating McQueen's Joe Saarem 6-1, 6-3 to the win the boys' title.
The girls' match left coach Roger Rusmisel in the unusual position of simply being a spectator.
"It's tough as a coach, watching two girls that have worked so hard for you have to go against each other," said Rusmisel, who was in a similar situation Friday when Douglas doubles partners Jamie Lundergreen and Linsey Glass defeated teammates Sarah and Emily Weaver in the quarterfinals. "Both Kari and Amelia played brilliantly.
"They demonstrated without a doubt that they were the two best players in Northern Nevada this year. Each game went to multiple deuces. Kari showed great court movement. She played Amelia's game and then put the power touches that she has on when she wanted to."
The match, which lasted over two hours, was the junior Ritger's second career loss in Northern Nevada play.
"Amelia took it well," Rusmisel said. "She is just such a mentally strong person, if she was going to lose, losing to a teammate is better than losing to a player from Reno. Both girls felt pretty good that we were able to knock out Reno players (Shelly Tone and Mary Garcia) in the semifinals. I think that was a little sense of revenge for them (from last week's loss to the Huskies in the team regional championships)."
With both players coming back next year, it leaves Douglas in the unique position of having two regional champions on its roster in the same season.
"That's a great feeling as a coach," Rusmisel said. "Knowing you'll have two kids like that back. It was bittersweet seeing them playing each other. On one hand, you know two of your kids made it to the finals. On the other, it means knowing one of them will have to lose.
"They both just played great and pushed each other."
On the boys' side, James TenBroeck's win marked the first regional title for a Douglas boy since the mid-'80s (Sam Chacon).
"It was a great match," Douglas boys' coach Rod Smith said. "James was obviously really excited. He played some beautiful points.
"McQueen's kid was real tall and had a powerful serve. His second serve was as hard as his first, but James just has such a solid all-around game. That was the difference."
The two TenBroecks and Ritger will advance to next week's state tournament in loss Vegas. It'll mark the third trip for Ritger and the second-consecutive trip for James TenBroeck.
Lundergreen and Glass lost in the third-place match, 7-5, 6-2 to the No. 2 seed out of the High Desert League from McQueen.
"At the end there, Jamie and Lindsey were playing very well. They were running down what appeared to be clear winners and keeping the ball in play," Rusmisel said.
