CWAC districts finish with Tigers, Lady Huskies earning team titles

EPHRATA - Three Othello doubles teams and seven total athletes, three Ephrata players, and a lone Quincy girl have advanced out of the Central Washington Athletic Conference (CWAC) district tournament and on to regional action next week.

All told it adds up to an Othello Lady Huskies team title as well as an Ephrata Tigers boys championship.

Othello was the big winner as Emma Hymus and Jocelyn Cantu rolled to a girls doubles title and Amelia Roylance and Yanitta Cantu took fourth to advance on to regionals to be held at Pullman on Saturday. 

Also the Othello boys doubles team of Marcus Garza and Wesley Cogswell took fourth to move on.

In girls' singles, Ashley Almaguer won the fifth/sixth match 6-1, 6-3 to make it a solid seven Huskies advancing to the next round of playoffs.

"The girls won the whole team title and I thought they did a great job with consistency," Othello head coach Robert Pruneda said. "I believe my boys underachieved. Wesley and Marcus will have to face the GNL top seed but I think they have a shot next week."

For Ephrata, the Tigers had two key second place finishes as Hunter and Conner Sears took second in doubles, losing a third-set tiebreaker (7-5) in the final.

"It doesn't get too much closer than a 5-7 loss in the third set tiebreaker," Ephrata co-head coach Deanna Brown said. "Momentum seemed to swing back and forth between the two teams.  We were up 4-1 in that third set but we just couldn't close the door."

Ephrata also got a strong runner-up performance by Michael Bosnar in singles.

Bosnar entered the final with four straight victories with only one set loss before falling 6-2, 6-2 to Grandview's Ryan Rodriguez.

"Michael Bosnar had a great tournament," Brown said. "He stuck to his game plan throughout the tournament and executed it very well."

Bosnar's Tiger teammate Thomas Pheasant also advanced with a fourth place finish.

The Quincy Jacks girls team had one player, Ciarra Rassmussen advance to regionals via a fourth place finish in singles.

Rassmussen earned a first round bye and then won her second round match 6-3, 6-3 and followed that up with a 6-2, 6-0 quarterfinal win. 

In the semifinals, Rassmussen fell in two sets, but was already assured of a regional place. She dropped the third/fourth place match in two sets as well.

"It's really nice and feels really good," Rassmussen said. "I feel like I have a lot more motivation and I have put a lot more work into it. I want to take it a step further and try to make it to state. I wouldn't be satisfied if I didn't but I am happy that I made it to regionals."

Her coach and father, Alan Rassmussen, is glad to see Ciarra's hard work this year pay off in a first ever regional trip for the Lady Jack.

"This is kind of nice for her because last year she won once and was out," the Quincy coach said. "It was nice to see an advancement this year. She is just mentally stronger. Instead of just putting the ball into play she does so now with a purpose."