Oregon 5A girls tennis: La Salle Prep's Kennedy Harris (singles), North Bend's Adrianna Frank-Olivia Knutson (doubles), Crescent Valley (team) earn titles

After dropping the first game of the championship match, Harris, a freshman, won the next 12 games to post a 6-1, 6-0 win.

By Dan Brood 

Kennedy Harris said she wasn’t too concerned when she lost the first game of the first set of her Class 5A state championship match.

As it turned out, she knew what she was talking about.

After dropping that first game, Harris, a La Salle Prep freshman and the No. 1 seed, won the next 12 games to post a 6-1, 6-0 win over second-seeded Sophie Katz, a Crescent Valley sophomore, in the girls singles title match of the Class 5A state tennis championships, held Friday and Saturday at the Portland Tennis Center and the Babette Horenstein Tennis Center in Beaverton.

“I’ve wanted to win state since I was nine, so this is really fun for me,” Harris said before receiving her state championship medal. “It’s really exciting.”

Harris, who went all season without losing a match, opened the state tournament with four straight-set victories, putting her in Saturday’s title tilt with Katz.

But Katz was ready, grabbing a 1-0 lead in the first set of the championship match.

“I think the first game was mostly nerves, but I got through those,” Harris said. “I think I was more focused.”

Was she ever, as she quickly took over to grab the 6-1, 6-0 victory — and the state championship.

“It’s really special for me, and I want to do it next year,” Harris said. “That’s the goal.”

Making the title even more special is that La Salle Prep sophomore Aiden McBride won the Class 5A boys singles state championship. 

“It’s amazing,” Harris said. “It’s really cool that we both could do it.”

Ashland freshman Veronica Miller got a 6-0, 6-1 victory over Pendleton senior Olivia Corbett in the girls singles third-place match.

In girls doubles play, the North Bend team of senior Adrianna Frank and senior Olivia Knutson bested the No. 2-seeded team to get to the final, where the Bulldogs duo got a 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 win over the top-seeded duo of Crescent Valley seniors Zoe Hughes and Kara Paterson.

The Ridgeview team of junior Rachel Lester and sophomore Sydney Cassaro got a 6-2, 6-3 win over the Wilsonville team of sophomores Mia Poppe and Katie Scoggins in the girls doubles third-place match.

Crescent Valley won the girls team championship with a score of 16.5 points. La Salle Prep and North Bend tied for second place, each with eight points. Ashland was fourth with seven points.