Grand Island Central Catholic's doubles teams took care of business on the first day of the Class B Girls State Tennis Tournament Thursday at the Nebraska Tennis Center.
Both teams advanced into this morning's 9 a.m. semifinals. The No. 1 team of junior Hannah Bolton and freshman Jessica Wojcik will face Kearney Catholic's Nickola Messbarger and Molly Heeney.
"They are defending champs at No. 1 doubles, so they've been in pressure-packed situations before," GICC coach Matt Westfall said of the Kearney Catholic team. "It's going to be tough. They're really neat girls and are friends with our girls. That's the nice part is there shouldn't be too much animosity between the two teams."
GICC's No. 2 team of Ashley Chalupa and Jessica Bender will play Kearney Catholic's Ellen Baldwin and Janna Montgomery in the semifinals.
"Ideally we take the championship in both of those," Westfall said. "We need to do that to get to 32 points, but we absolutely have to win those two championships to have any hope at all."
At this point, it would appear that even 32 points might not get the Crusaders into the top two. Omaha Skutt leads after the first day with 34 points and advanced three of four -- including both No. 1 entries -- into the semifinals. Omaha Duchesne also moved three entries into the semifinals and stands second with 32 points.
Elkhorn is third with 26 followed by McCook with 24. Central Catholic and Lexington are tied for fifth with 20 points.
Bolton knows all about winning championships. She teamed with Liz Ryan a year ago to win at No. 2 doubles.
"The competition is a lot stronger at No. 1 doubles," Bolton said. "But the thing is I've grown and Jessica has adapted really well to one doubles. Everywhere you go, you're going to find people who give you a run for your money. I've matured and Jessica has matured so it works out.
"Whatever position you play, you just have to play to the best of your abilities."
Bolton and Wojcik certainly got a run for their money in their opening match against Elizabeth Sutton and Haley Heibel of Lincoln Pius X. Bolton and Wojcik came away with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 victory over the Pius team.
"Pius is really good," Wojcik said. "We kew that they would play us tough and we had to come with our best tennis. That's all we did."
Westfall said Pius is really good -- good enough that the Thunderbolts should have been seeded.
"Somehow Pius should have been seeded but didn't get seeded," Westfall said. "We won the first set 6-0 and we were 3-3 in the second set and about to go 4-3 when the momentum changed.
"If we get through and win the championship, we may see that as the most difficult match we've had. It was unfair for Pius because we should have played them two or three rounds into it instead of the very first match."
Bolton started the season at No. 1 singles with Wojcik playing with Bender at No. 1 doubles. Bolton certainly didn't mind switching back to doubles.
"From the get-go I've always been a doubles player," Bolton said. "That's just the kind of mentality I have. Jessica and I really just feed off each other. We've played other sports together, so we really just click well. We understand what we have to do to have that competitive mentality.
"I've been blessed to have really good partners. They both understand the competitive nature of the game."
Bolton and Wojcik went on to beat Hastings' Audrey Portwood and Taylor Power 6-2, 6-1, then downed York's Mickaela Fischer and Teagan Beck 6-4, 6-1 to move into the semifinals.
Chalupa and Bender defeated Elkhorn's Carly Pentzien and Samantha Bridges 6-3, 6-3 and later downed Scottsbluff's Brooke Steele and Nicole Carlson 6-0, 6-0 in the quarterfinals.
"Our No. 2 doubles team just played phenomenally," Westfall said. "They got into the semis by beating Scottsbluff 6-0, 6-0 and it wasn't as close as the score indicated.
"It was pretty much a rout. They're going in with a lot of success and good feelings for tomorrow. By getting into the second day, they medal and that's really important to them."
The Crusaders didn't fare as well in the singles matches. Sophomore Nicole Jacobson fell 6-0, 6-0 at No. 1 singles to third-seeded Heather Hottman of Elkhorn in the opening round.
"Nicole as a sophomore just made great strides," Westfall said. "She just got an unlucky draw and drew the No. 3 seed her very first match and it was pretty one sided, but she's going to learn from that and she's going to be stronger the next two years for it."
Senior Kiran Hamik opened with a win in the first round but fell in the second round at No. 2 singles.
"Kiran Hamik won her first match and got us two valuable points," Westfall said. "She lost the second match 7-5, 6-2 and it was really closer than that. It could have gone either way.
"She played hard and had a good career for us. Now she's a senior moving on, but she got us two valuable points. Hopefully that's going to come in handy when they tally up the points at the end."
Class B
At Lincoln
Team Standings
Omaha Skutt 34, Omaha Duchesne 32, Elkhorn 26, McCook 24, Grand Island Central Catholic 20, Lexington 20, Beatrice 18, Kearney Catholic 18, Scottsbluff 18, Holdrege 14, Ogallala 14, Waverly 12, York 12, Hastings 10, Adams Central 8, Alliance 8, Omaha Roncalli 6, Ralston 6, Blair 4, Hastings St. Cecilia 4, Hershey 4, Lincoln Christian 4, Lincoln Pius X 4, Nebraska City 4, Wilber-Clatonia 4, Gretna 2, Norris 2, Omaha Brownell-Talbot 2, Omaha Gross 2.
