District Tennis: Avon's Ashley DeHaven, Amherst's Katelyn Bussard to meet Saturday with trip to state on line

BATH TWP. — Avon senior Ashley DeHaven and Amherst sophomore Katelyn Bussard have the same goal as they prepare for their paths to cross Saturday at the Northeast Division I district tournament. They will meet at the Springside Health & Racquet Club in a play-in match to determine who will advance to the state tournament at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason. "I'm excited that I get to come back for a second day," DeHaven said Thursday. "In the end, I just want to be happy with how I played. It's such a good opportunity to be able to come back. I'm going to make the most of it and come in with an open mind." Bussard is also cautiously optimistic as she attempts to qualify for the state tournament. "I feel kind of confident," she said. "I guess we'll see how it goes, but right now I'm feeling OK." The winner will play for fifth or sixth place out of the six qualifiers. Whoever wins will join Avon resident Elizabeth Ammori and Avon Lake resident Marissa Packer in qualifying for state. The Magnificat doubles team earned its way with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over North Canton Hoover's Avery Dempsey and Maria Fernandez in the quarterfinals. "I'm happy," Ammori said. "The Hoover team that we played was really good. It was a good match. I'm happy that we qualified for state. "I'm excited to go to (Mason). We were there last year and it was really fun." Last season, Ammori qualified with Adriana Guillermo, who qualified as a singles competitor this year, and Packer qualified with 2026 graduate Molly Williams. This year they can finish no worse than the fourth seed out of the district. The Blue Streaks duo kicked off the tournament by defeating Avon's Samantha Gault and Karina Marsden 6-0, 6-0. The Eagles' team of Sam Jackson and Grace Gedeon also lost in the first round to Massillon Jackson's Kamryn Rieder and Halle Smith (6-2, 6-0). Avon Lake's Kathleen Boatright was also defeated in the first round by Massillon Perry's Mackenzie Fearon (6-1, 6-2). DeHaven, the second seed out of the Highland sectional, topped Wooster's Hailey Jung 7-5, 6-2 in the first round before being defeated 6-0, 6-0 by Guillermo, the Solon sectional champion, in the quarterfinals. "I feel like I mixed up my shots well today," DeHaven said. "I tried to hit it with spin and then played it short or tried to move (my opponent) from side to side. "(Guillermo) is a great player, so I feel like I can learn from my mistakes and take that into the second day. My footwork is really important." Bussard, the third-place finisher at the Solon sectional, ousted Hoban's Diana Nicolae, the Canton sectional runner-up, 6-4, 7-6 in the first round. She fell to returning state runner-up Emma Liu of Hudson 6-2, 6-3 in the quarterfinals. "I feel like I played well (against Liu)," Bussard said. "I made a couple of mistakes wide, but overall I think I played fine. She just made everything." Ammori and Packer took a solid challenge from the Vikings but used great strategy and communication to push through in the match's biggest moments. Magnificat lost the first game of each set, but battled back to win the next five in the first set and three in a row in the second set to take control of the match. The Blue Streaks earned the only break of the second set on the way to going up 3-1. "It took some effort at the end, but I thought we played a good match," Packer said. "We knew our strengths and just had to keep using them to our advantage." Contact John Urchek at jurchek@medina-gazette.com.