After just three meets as a team, junior Karen Chan and senior Cheyenne Sokkappa quickly became a state level pairing.
The duo took eighth at the 2015 2A Girls State Doubles championships on May 29-30 in the Nordstrom Tennis Center.
“We found we had a lot of chemistry,” Chan said. “I love playing with Cheyenne.”
Coach Justine Wagner said the girls’ efforts were absolutely amazing.
“They made it to day two and got to play a showcase match inside,” she said. “It has been a while since this has happened.”
Sequim’s last state finishers were Kyla Hall and Blaire Maloney who placed sixth in 2009 in the doubles tournament.
Chan and Sokkappa had a tough match-up going in, facing some of the top finishers from 2014 playing in this year’s tournament.
Simone Hall and Taylor Harris of Sehome won 6-0, 6-2, before going on to place second overall. Last year, Hall took first in state with Lizzie Friesen and Harris second with Madison Harris.
But Chan and Sokkappa didn’t back down though.
The Wolves took their first consolation game in three sets 6-4, 6-7, 6-3 over Lizzie George and Alexa Yadama of Pullman and they won their next match more convincingly 6-4, 6-1 over Lauren McDevitt and Callin O’Malley of Selah.
Wagner said beating the Pullman team was the highlight of the tournament because they were so talented.
Chan and Sokkappa faced off in the fifth/eighth place finals against Kyla Richards and Isabel Vander Stoep of W.F. West and lost 3-6, 7-6 (6), 6-2.
Senior Hannah Gauthun earned the first alternate spot in the 2A girls singles tournament but a position did not open up.
Previously, she was paired with Chan as a doubles team but Gauthun and Wagner opted for her to play in the singles bracket at the Olympic League Tournament.
“Overall, I’m extremely satisfied with how we did,” Chan said.
She’s played on a doubles team most of her high school career but may change things up again as a senior in 2016.
“Next year, I’m inching toward playing singles, which means getting more endurance,” Chan said. “We’ll see what the season brings.”
On the season, Wagner said the ability to “being coachable” is important and these girls showed that.
“We were changing different parts of their game until the day of state,” she said.
