JDHS tennis team prepares for regions and state play
- Mark Sabbatini
- 4 days ago
- 5 min read
Southeast tournament starts Tuesday, winners move on to state
By Klas Stolpe
Juneau Independent
The Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé Crimson Bears tennis team begins its Region V tournament Tuesday at the Alaska Club in the valley, with play running through Saturday.
“We have a pretty big team this year, and we have a lot of kids who played in the offseason,” JDHS head coach Austin Stefanich said. “So now that we’re coming to regions and with state coming up, we have a lot of kids that I think are ready to compete at the region and state level and do pretty well.”
The Crimson Bears’ philosophy extends past tennis.
“Our biggest goal is to teach them to be problem solvers,” Stefanich said. “Kind of give them all the tools that they could possibly need and then, whether it’s a match or anything in life, how can they use that problem-solving and get through the situation.”
JDHS has the only tennis team among Region V schools, so the tournament winners will qualify for the Alaska School Activities Association Tennis State Championships at Anchorage’s Alaska Club East location Oct. 9-11.
“We have to kind of simulate that a lot in practices,” Stefanich said. “So we’ll be like, ‘Okay, imagine you’re in this situation. How would we problem solve against that?’ So we practice that a lot in practice. And then on the weekends we have adults in our community that play against our players and give them the chance to compete against other people. We traveled up to Anchorage for an invitational early September. We took 12 players to the Anchorage invitation, and we did really good. It wasn’t like a win-or-lose situation. We just played a whole bunch of matches against schools from Fairbanks and Anchorage, and just kind of got the lay of the land of who’s out there in the state.”
During last season’s state championships, 2025 graduates Alex Rehfeldt and Milina Mazon won the mixed doubles state title, 2025 graduates Taliesin Paul and Kajson Cunningham played in boys doubles, JDHS’ Elliot Welch placed third in boys singles, while Isabella Reyes-Boyer and Aurora Madsen placed fifth in girls doubles, and Riley Dale played in girls singles. The Crimson Bears placed third in the team standings at state.
Welch also placed third in boys doubles in 2023 and Mazon was second in girls doubles with graduate Chelsea Ligsay. Welch placed fifth in boys singles in 2022.
“We’ve got third, second and third as a team the past three seasons at state,” Stefanich said. “Now we're going into this season, and I feel like the kids just have got to keep working hard and keep playing, and if we have enough kids who can compete at a high level at state, I think it's definitely possible to take first. So I think this team has a shot at it.”
Seniors on the JDHS team commented on tennis and college. They include Welch, Paige Kirsch, Lydia Heidemann, Mya Hood, Samuel Lagerquist, Ainsley Mallott, Hazel McWilliams and Reyes-Boyer.
“I don’t have a college major planned out quite yet,” Welch said. “My favorite part of tennis is just the fun of playing a sport and athletics.”
McWilliams said of her future, “I am planning on majoring in biology, and I like making new friends at tennis.”
Reyes-Boyer said, “I am also planning on majoring in biology and my favorite part of tennis is the community and playing with my friends.”
Lagerquist said, “I really enjoy the community and like all the friends I have in tennis, and I am planning on majoring in political science.”
Kirsch said, “I really like my teammates and I also plan on majoring in political science.”
Mallott said, “I plan on majoring in chemistry in college, and my favorite part of tennis is playing matches with community members on the weekends.”
Hood said, “I really like the serving in tennis and my teammates, and I want to major in business.”
Heidemann said, “I really like seeing my friends playing tennis, and I want to major in biology.”
Honored among the seniors is junior exchange student Yvan Guyard, from Brittany, France, who said, “I like to play tennis because I like sports and I like to play with my friends.”
Juniors on the tennis roster include Guyard, Fallon “Riley” Dale, Daniel Degener, Katherine Hieb, Isaac Hill, Aurora Madsen and Morgan “Saige” Sowa.
Sophomores include Delphine Hochstoeger and Kiera Jenkins and freshmen include Mia Alexander, Naisha Bathija, Josselyn Davis, Isaac Kirsch, Fiona Koelsch, Oscar Lamb, Alana Nguyen, Oliver Rogers and Paxton Willoughby.
Assisting Stefanich are Anne Kincheloe and Mona Mametsuka.
Another key for JDHS is the program’s ACE Tennis Scholarship to the Alaska Club. For the past three seasons, anonymous donors have pledged to sponsor a one-year membership. Applications are filled out by players. The donors see the applications with the names striped out so they only read answers that the players gave. This year scholarships were given to seniors Kirsch and Welch, and juniors Hieb, Hill and Madsen.
This week’s opening region tournament matches are as follows:
MIXED DOUBLES
Tuesday 4:15 p.m. - A. Madsen/Y. Guyard vs. I. Kirsch/A. Mallot (winner advances to 8 p.m. Thursday).
Tuesday 4:15 p.m. - I. Hill/B. Reyes-Boyer vs. R. Dale/D. Degener (winner advances to 4:15 p.m. Wednesday vs. E. Welch/P. Kirsch).
OPEN DOUBLES
Tuesday 5:15 p.m. - K. Hieb/S. Sowa vs. D. Hochstoeger/K. Jenkins; S. Lagerquist/O. Rogers vs. F. Koelsch/M. Hood (winners and losers match up on 5 p.m. Thursday).
Wednesday 715 p.m. - M. Alexander/N. Bathija vs. J. Davis/A. Nquyen (winner advances to 6 p.m. Thursday match vs. L. Heidemann/H. McWilliams).
GIRLS SINGLES
Wednesday 6:15 p.m. - R. Dale vs. S. Sowa (winner advances to 2:15 p.m. vs. B. Reyes-Boyer).
Wednesday 6:15 p.m. - A. Mallott vs. P. Kirsch (winner advances to 2:15 p.m. vs. A. Madsen).
GIRLS DOUBLES
Tuesday 7:15 p.m. - L. Heidemann/H. McWilliams vs. R. Dale/A. Madsen and Wednesday 8:15 p.m. P. Kirsch/A. Mallott vs. B. Reyes-Boyer/S. Sowa (winners advance to 3:30 p.m. Thursday).
BOYS SINGLES
Tuesday 6:15 p.m. - I. Kirsch vs. I. Hill (winner advances to 1:15 p.m. Friday).
Tuesday 6:15 p.m. - D. Degener vs. Y. Guyard (winner advances to 5:15 p.m. Wednesday vs. E. Welch and that game winner advances to 1:15 p.m. Friday).
BOYS DOUBLES
Tuesday 7:15 p.m. - O. Lamb/P. Willoughby vs. I. Kirsch/D. Degener.
Wednesday 8:15 p.m. - I. Hill/E. Welch vs. O. Lamb/P.Willoughby.
Thursday 3:30 p.m. - I. Kirsch/D. Degener vs. I. Hill/E. Welch.
Play for all brackets is double elimination and continues through Friday and Saturday championships.
• Contact Klas Stolpe at klas.stolpe@gmail.com
