Chan wins first-ever girls' singles state championship

Juneau-Douglas High School's Ling Chan won the first-ever girls' singles state championship on Saturday in Anchorage.

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Chan, a 16-year-old exchange student from Hong Kong, defeated second-seeded Emma Lewis of South Anchorage 6-1, 6-4 for the title at the inaugural Alaska School Activities Association State High School Tennis Championships.

Saturday's victory was Chan's second win over Lewis. Chan handed the South sophomore her first high school defeat on Sept. 22 in Anchorage.

The five games the top-seeded Chan dropped to Lewis proved to be the only games she lost in the entire single elimination tournament.

Chan beat Bartlett's Katie Steffens 6-0, 6-0 in Saturday's semifinal and Service's Hope Satterwaith 6-0, 6-0 in Friday's quarterfinal.

Juneau-Douglas' top-seeded mixed doubled tandem of Nathan Graves and Lyndsey Kelly made it to the finals before falling to West Anchorage's Aurora Landau and Liam McMahon in three sets.

Landau and McMahon won 6-1, 6-7, 7-6 for the state championship.

Graves and Kelly defeated South's Karissa Saber and A.J. Willis 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 in the semifinals and Lathrop's Rebecca Grynder and Tyler Loud 6-1, 6-2 in the quarterfinals.

In girls' doubles, Juneau's Merijke Coenraad and Dream Suchitbharabitya reached the semifinals before falling 6-3, 6-4 to eventual champions Chloe Cotton and Helen Mense of West Anchorage.

Coenraad and Suchitbharabitya finished fourth overall after falling to East Anchorage's Ethan Neslund and Sarah Spring 6-4, 7-6 in the third-place match.

On Friday, Coenraad and Suchitbharabitya beat Eagle River's Nicole Goodman and Ashley Mauger 6-0, 6-1 in the first round and defeated Eielson's Amanda Osteen and Amanda Williams 6-1, 6-1 in the quarterfinals.

The Crimson Bears' Peter Jorgensen and Steffan Wilcox fell 6-3, 6-2 to Bartlett's Chris Arceneaux and Luke Petrusa in Friday's first round.

In boys singles, Juneau-Douglas' Brian Vandor fell to East Anchorage's Ari Baskous 6-2, 6-3.

West Anchorage won the overall title by capturing 16 matches while West Valley won 10 matches for second place. Juneau-Douglas finished third with nine victories.

• Contact sports editor Tim Nichols at 523-2228 or sports@juneauempire.com.