It took the best to knock off Sequim’s best.

After breezing through the regular season, league tourney and district tourney without a scratch, Sequim’s doubles duo of senior Reed Gunstone and Mallory Maloney won three of four matches at the class 2A state tournament in Seattle, placing third overall.

Their only loss came in a 6-3, 6-3 decision to Kevin Bertelsen and Devin Teske of Selah – the eventual state champions and same squad that edged the

Sequim pair in last year’s third place/fifth place match.

Gunstone and Maloney came back to top Clarkston’s Nick Van Cleave and Derek Young by the same 6-3, 6-3 score for third.

Gunstone and Maloney finished 14-1 on the season and are 26-4 in the past two seasons.

Sequim’s other state competitors didn’t fare as well, coming up against some tough competition. In singles play, senior Joe Puntenney dropped matches to Deer Park’s Alejandro Canseco and Tumwater’s Zach Drake.

On the girls’ side,

Sequim sophomores Katrina Chan and Stacy Hanson teamed up in the state doubles bracket. The pair fell to Amy and Becca Wilson of Squalicum – the eventual state runner-ups – in a three-set, first round heartbreaker, then fell in three sets in the consolation bracket to Hannah Johnson and Lyndsey Norris of RA Long (Longview).

On the strength of Gunstone and Maloney’s finish, Sequim’s boys finished in a tie for seventh place in the team standings.