By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Hayden girls tennis stars Ainzley Zulueta and Emily Sheetz kept their bids for a third Class 4A state championships on Friday at Kossover Tennis Cente while Seaman sophomore Emma Sweeney also advanced to the state semifinals in the 5A state tournament.
Zulueta, the two-time state singles champ and the No. 1 seed this weekend, went 2-0 on Friday without dropping a game and will face the No. 5 seed in a 9 a.m. semifinal while Sheetz, who won back-to-back doubles championships in 2022 and 2023 with '24 Hayden graduate Lauren Sandstrom and will try for a third crown on Saturday with freshman Sophia Wichman.
Sheetz and Wichman, who are coming off a regional championship and are the No. 2 seed for state and went 2-0 Friday to advance to a 9 a.m. semifinal doubles showdown with No. 6 seed Circle.
Sweeney, a state singles medalist as a freshman, went 2-0 in the 5A state tournament on Friday to advance to a 9 a.m. semifinal to face the No. 1 tournament seed.
Seaman junior Molly Gorman, a two-time state medalist in doubles, went 3-1 on Friday in her first state tournament in singles and can still finish as high as fifth place on Saturday.
Seaman's doubles team of senior Sidney Chinn and junior Peyton Henry also went 3-1 on Friday and can still finish as high as fifth in 5A.
Hayden junior Grace Funk in singles and the junior doubles team of Izzy Glotzbach and Avery O'Bray both went 2-1 in their first three matches on Friday.
Topeka High junior singles player Madeline Deters won her first two 6A singles matches on Friday before losing in the quarterfinals to the No. 2 seed.
Washburn Rural seniors Emerie Catlin and Izzy Haggard fell in the 6A doubles quarterfinals.
Both Deters and Catlin and Haggard can still finish as high as fifth place.