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Ashland girls in position to win districts Staff and Wire Reports ROSEBURG - North Medford's bid for a seventh straight district girls tennis championship was dealt a somewhat expected knockout blow Thursday afternoon. Ashland, which went undefeated in SOC matches this season, placed two singles players and two doubles teams in Saturday's semifinals, essentially securing the Southern Oregon Conference district title for the Grizzlies. "I can't be more proud," an ecstatic Ashland head coach Karl Carstensen said after returning to Ashland Thursday night. "We looked at the seedings, we looked at the bracket and I talked to the girls and I kind of laid out a road map, and everything they did kind of executed my plan. Everybody just got done what they needed to get done." The district tournament concludes Saturday in Roseburg, with the top four placers in singles and doubles advancing to the Class 4A state championships May 22-24 in Portland and Beaverton. Ashland and North Medford will go head-to-head in both doubles semifinals as the top four seeds all advanced Thursday afternoon. The top-seeded tandem of McKenzie Hilmer and Lauren Wilson for North is slated to take on the No. 4 seeds Chelsea Van Lehn and Kate Morris of Ashland in one semifinal, with Shannon Leever and Annie Chaney, runners-up for North in last year's state championships, facing Ashland's top tandem of Justine Bowen-Jones and Jessica Baker in the other semi. The tandem of Heather Dumas and Jennifer Pendergast almost helped North repeat its feat of having three doubles teams advance to state. Despite being unseeded, the Dumas-Pendergast pairing won two matches Thursday before coming up short in the quarterfinals against Baker and Bowen-Jones, 6-2, 6-3. The top two singles seeds from Roseburg, Becky Correll and Stacy Wetmore, easily advanced into Saturday's semifinals and will take on Ashland's Lauren Sargent and Kayla Moyse, respectively. Correll, in search of her second straight district singles title, didn't drop a game in winning her only two matches Thursday. Wetmore plowed a more difficult path to the semifinals, edging Michelle Bellamy of Grants Pass, 6-4, 6-3, in the second round and Ashland's Kristina Lind in the quarterfinals, 6-3, 6-1. Moyse also didn't surrender a game in advancing to the semifinals. Sargent fought back to win a three-set match over Roseburg's Heather Bartlett in her first match of the day, then regrouped in the quarterfinals with a 6-3, 6-0 win over GP's Melissa Dean. Dean had advanced to the quarterfinals after stunning fourth-seeded Sonia Aguilera of North, 6-3, 6-1. Aguilera joined teammates Kelsey Thornton and Valerie Iverson in losing their first district matches after receiving first-round byes. But no matter what happens Saturday, Ashland will almost certainly clinch the district title. "We went up with a mission and it's almost like we wrote the script and the script came true," Carstensen said. "This has been a team effort from Day One. We went undefeated throughout the year and it had to do with every single girl on the team. We received points from girls who weren't even seeded." SINGLES FIRST ROUND - Nicole Hoyal, SM, d. Trina Baker, KU, 6-4, 6-4; Camille Morris, A, d. Katie Tardieu, GP, 6-1, 6-3; Heather Bartlett, R, d. Ashleigh Ingeldew, SM, 6-0, 6-1; Melissa Dean, GP, d. Jacqueline Brown, KU, 6-0, 6-0; Denise Ledgerwood, KU, d. Kendall Hess, SM, 6-1, 6-4; Alejandra Cereceda, R, d. Kelly Hamlyn, GP, 6-0, 6-3; Melissa Witten, NM, d. Ellie Casey, KU, 6-2, 6- 3; Michelle Bellamy, GP, d. Margaret Moore, SM, 6-3, 6-1. SECOND ROUND - Becky Correll, R, d. Hoyal, SM, 6-0, 6-0; Morris, A, d. Kelsey Thornton, NM, 6-4, 6-4; Lauren Sargent, A, d. Bartlett, R, 1-6, 6-1, 6-3; Dean, GP, d. Sonia Aguilera, NM, 6-3, 6-1; Kayla Moyse, A, d. Ledgerwood, KU, 6-0, 6-0; Cereceda, R, d. Valerie Iverson, NM, 6-0, 6-2; Lind, A, d. Witten, NM, 7-5, 6-3; Stacy Wetmore, R, d. Bellamy, GP, 6-4, 6-3. QUARTERFINALS - Correll, R, d. Morris, A, 6-0, 6-0; Sargent, A, d. Dean, GP, 6-3, 6-0; Moyse, A, d. Cereceda, R, 6-0, 6-0; Wetmore, R, d. Lind, A, 6-3, 6-1. DOUBLES FIRST ROUND - Kai Rossman-Tina Warnick, GP, d. Chelsey Andrews-Hanah Watah, KU, 6-2, 6-1; Laurel Schultz-Kim Caddock, R, d. Kelli Murphy-Mandy Engler, SM, 6-0, 6-1; Jenna Johnson-Eli Drosdick, SM, d. Alysia Yamasaki-Dana Honzel, KU, 6-3, 7-5; Dawn Ackerman-Nichole Hicks, GP, d. Rachel Ryan-Janell Petersen, NM, 6-4, 6-4; Kelly Rulon-Emma Close, SM, d. Erin Mintun-Piyawan Taguchi, GP, 7-5, 6-3; Rachel Friers-Amanda Amstutz, A, d. Maxi Freudenberg-Laura Capehart, KU, 6-0, 6-0; Jennifer Pendergast-Heather Dumas, NM, d. Annie McConnell-Sarah Wells, SM, 6-0, 6-0; Lilee Chan-Jenny Lund, KU, d. Ashley Hurst-Rebecca Weicher, GP, 6-3, 6-3. SECOND ROUND - McKenzie Hilmer-Lauren Wilson, NM, d. Warnick-Rossman, GP, 6-0, 6-2; Sarah Cate-Samantha Holtey, A, d. Caddock-Schultz, 6-1, 6-2; Lynsee Gonzales-Sonu Allen, R, d. Johnson-Drosdick, 6-3, 6-1; Kate Morris-Chelsea Van Lehn, A, d. Ackerman-Hicks, 6-2, 6-4; Shannon Leever-Annie Chaney, NM, d. Close-Rulon, 6-1, 6-0; Valerie Janelli-Galaxie Slight, R, d. Friers- Amstutz, A, 6-1, 7-5; Dumas-Pendergast, NM, d. Amy Dorius-Emily Gawne, R, 6-1, 6-4; Jessica Baker-Justine Bowen-Jones, A, d. Chan-Lund, KU, 6-0, 6-0. QUARTERFINALS - Hilmer-Wilson, NM, d. Cate-Holtey, A, 6-1, 6-2; Van Lehn-Morris, A, d. Gonzales-Allen, R, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4); Leever-Chaney, NM, d. Slight-Janelli, R, 6-1, 6-0; Baker- Bowen-Jones, A, d. Dumas-Pendergast, NM, 6-2, 6-3. LINKS: DAILY TIDINGS: Main | News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Opinion | Columnists | AP News | Subscribe | Archives | Weather | Classifieds | Contact Us | Privacy REVELS: Main | Calendar | Dining | Movies | T.V. 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