For the first time in five years, Sumner High coach Chris Heacox doesn’t have a girls tennis player advancing to the district tournament, but it wasn’t without effort.

“It’s a bummer,” Heacox said. “But it’s OK, because our kids played great and improved a ton.”

After the May 10 seeding meeting, the Spartans picked up a number of tough draws.

Emily Gonzales, seeded No. 7, and the doubles team of Taylor Henken and Kyla Anderson, seeded No. 6, were the only Spartans to make it into the double-elimination portion of the draw, the top 16 in the tournament which included South Puget Sound League 3A and Western Cascade Conference teams.

“They all played excellent and positioned themselves with an opportunity to move on to the West Central District with a winner-in and loser-out match,” Heacox said.

Gonzales lost a match to Enumclaw’s Alex Putnam 6-4, 6-4.

“She absolutely played her heart out,” Heacox said, of Gonzales, who was exhausted after player her third match in five hours.

Henken and Anderson found themselves in the same position, facing familiar foes in White River’s Courtney Hall and Haley Havelock. The Spartan pair dropped the first set in a 7-6 tiebreaker and the second set 6-4.

Heacox said the match before, the duo played their best match of the season, topping a good Auburn Mountainview team 7-6, 6-1.