CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa – Nic Lay repeated as Okinawa district tennis boys singles champion on Thursday, while Lily Oliver captured her first district girls crown, giving Kadena a district title sweep.
Lay, a senior, downed Kubasaki senior Mark Ebarle 6-2, 6-3 in the boys final held at Kubasaki High School. Oliver, a Panthers freshman, dispatched Dragons senior Allie Powers 6-1, 6-0 in the girls final.
“It kind of feels amazing, kind of surreal, I’ve never won anything this big before, my first time. Excited,” Oliver said.
The tournament, held over the afternoon and evening, featured each school’s top four singles seeds playing in single-elimination format with placement consolation matches.
It’s the first of three district tournaments scheduled over the next three weeks in advance of the Far East tournament Nov. 3-6 at Kadena Air Base’s Risner Tennis Complex. The mixed doubles is scheduled for Oct. 23 and doubles for Oct. 30.
“It’s a lot closer than I expected it to be,” Lay said of Far East, adding that he’s expecting in the run-up to do “a lot of practice, a lot of stressing, the doubles, the mixed doubles, hoping I can take them all and hopefully, I’m ready for Far East.”