Timberline's Schuster is 'tournament tough,' and 2 wins away from her second tennis title

Timberline High School senior Angela Schuster likes to think she’s tournament tough.

And she’s certainly proved it throughout her four-year tennis career playing for the Blazers.

Schuster worked through two opponents Friday in Kennewick to put herself in good position to win the Class 3A state singles title.

She breezed past Stanwood’s Avery Zill (6-0, 6-0) in the opening round at the Tri-City Court Club, and topped Interlake’s Angel Le (6-3, 3-6, 6-1) to advance to the semifinals.

“I really wanted to win,” Schuster said. “Right off the bat, my energy was already really high. This is my last one.”

Schuster, a University of Portland commit, secured a routine victory over Zill in her opener. Her quarterfinals match wasn’t so easy.

“I knew it was going to be a tough match. She’s an athlete and she crushes the ball,” Schuster said of Le.

Until Friday’s quarterfinals, Schuster hadn’t lost a game this season.

Le changed that in the opening set, handing Schuster her first single-game loss since last year’s 3A tournament, where Schuster finished fourth.

“The second round with Angel was a battle in the first set, even though (Schuster) won, 6-3,” Timberline coach Kristine Mosher said.

“Angel didn’t back down and came out and took over the second set.”

Mosher said Schuster made adjustments before the third set to grind out the win.

“It didn’t really faze me too much, because I’ve done (United States Tennis Association) tournaments a lot,” Schuster said. “I like to think I’m pretty tournament tough.”

Schuster rallied to win the third set, focusing on ball placement and capitalizing on Le cramping up.

“I tried to stop hitting down the middle so much and move her around more,” Schuster said.

Schuster meets another opponent from Interlake, Abby Nash, at 8 a.m. Saturday in the semifinals.

“I’m going out with the same mindset tomorrow,” Schuster said. “I’m going out to win it.”

4A girls

Sumner’s Jade Lancaster was almost perfect in making it to the semifinals. Lancaster defeated Brooke Demerath from Inglemoore 6-0, 6-1 in the first round and defeated Sam Merrill from Camas 6-0, 6-1. She faces Erika Ito of Kentwood.

Ito started her day off with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Quinci Fisher from Richland, then beat Emily Peterson of Lake Stevens to t6-1, 6-3. Ito and Demerath will face off at 8:30 a.m. Saturday.

Nancy Cabanas from Thomas Jefferson made the semis by beating Mount Vernon’s Jessica Cooley 6-0, 6-1 and Maddie Egan from Rogers 6-3, 6-3.

In doubles, Lily Olson and Lauren Jergens from Kennedy Catholic, and Calley Heilborn and Anna Maracich from Auburn Riverside reached the semifinals.

1A/2B/1B girls

Zoe Rose from Charles Wright Academy earned her way to the semifinals at the Yakima Tennis Club. She prevailed 6-2, 6-2 over Mechelle Busey from Naches Valley in the opener and the pulled out a 7-5, 6-2 win over Allie Michael of Deer Park.

In the doubles tournament, Grace and Kate Jung from Cascade Christian made the semifinals after a first-round match that went to double tiebreakers.

The Jung sisters edged Talia Johnson and Kelli Bighorn from Goldendale 7-6 (8-6) in the first set and then 7-6 (7-5) in the second.

4A boys

Colby Tong from Auburn Riverside had the toughest road to the 4A singles semifinals as he took it to three sets against Cascade’s Yevgeniy Kolomiyets in the first round.

Tong won the first set 6-1, dropped the second 4-6 and came back and won the tiebreaker 6-3. From there, he easily handled Angelo Bravo 6-0, 6-2.

The doubles teams of Brendan Stoll and Hayden Wood from Kennedy Catholic and Alex and Andrew Boupharath of Kentwood are headed to the semifinals at the Columbia Basin Racquet Club.

2A boys

Colton Smith from Tumwater also found himself in the 2A boys semifinals after defeating both of his opponents without dropping a single set at Nordstorm Tennis Center in Seattle.

Smith handed both Colton Tenwick of Clarkson and Kyle Beuse of Sedro-Woolley 6-0, 6-0 defeats.

1A/2B/1B boys

Raghav Agrawal of Charles Wright Academy cruised to the semifinals at the Yakima Tennis club.

His defeated Kane Andruss from Cashmere in straight sets; then he took down Tyson Lim of Deer Park 6-2, 6-3.

Charles Wright’s doubles team of Cole Harrington and Micah Wibowo advanced to the semifinals.

This story was originally published May 25, 2018 at 9:23 PM with the headline "Timberline's Schuster is 'tournament tough,' and 2 wins away from her second tennis title."