{"id":880384,"date":"2026-10-13T03:04:48","date_gmt":"2026-10-13T03:04:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/880384\/"},"modified":"2026-10-13T03:04:48","modified_gmt":"2026-10-13T03:04:48","slug":"former-runners-up-finish-on-top-in-state-high-school-tennis-tournament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/880384\/","title":{"rendered":"Former runners-up finish on top in state high school tennis tournament"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Todd Debenham of Dimond returns a shot during the boys singles final at the Alaska State High School Tennis Tournament on Saturday, Oct. 10, at the Alaska Club East in Anchorage. (Photo by Michael Dinneen for the Daily News) <\/p>\n

A common theme in two of the most exciting matches from the 2026 ASAA High School State Tennis Championship finals was unfinished business.<\/p>\n

Last year, Dimond\u2019s Todd Debenham didn\u2019t go home empty-handed after making it to the boys singles finals. But he still fell short of claiming the top spot when he lost to Elliot Welch of Juneau-Douglas.<\/p>\n

This time around, failure wasn\u2019t an option for the 6-foot-5 powerful hitter as he defeated Service\u2019s Han Keum to go out on top as a senior.<\/p>\n

\u201cTaking first was always the hope from the beginning,\u201d Debenham said.<\/p>\n

It took a back-and-forth, third-set tiebreaker to decide the winner, and he felt a sense of relief after securing the title. The final score was 6-0, 6-7 (6-8), 1-0 (10-7).<\/p>\n

\"\"Todd Debenham of Dimond and Service’s Han Keum shake hands after the boys singles final at the Alaska State High School Tennis Tournament on Saturday, Oct. 10, at the Alaska Club East in Anchorage. (Photo by Michael Dinneen for the Daily News) \"\"Service’s Han Keum returns a shot during the boys singles final at the Alaska State High School Tennis Tournament on Saturday, Oct. 10, at the Alaska Club East in Anchorage. (Photo by Michael Dinneen for the Daily News) <\/p>\n

Debenham went undefeated during the regular season but entered the state tournament coming off his lone loss, to top-seeded Adam Kaufman in the Region IV finals. <\/p>\n

The lessons he learned from that setback helped propel him to his ultimate goal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it was really mind-opening,\u201d Debenham said. \u201cAll the competitors had a shot, and it felt good to bring it back here at state.\u201d<\/p>\n

He was in control early in the finals match, winning the first set. Keum rallied in the second, but Debenham got the job done in the tiebreak.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first set was good, I felt really good,\u201d Debenham said. \u201cHe was really hitting the ball hard in the second set, so I was really pushing it and the third set was close. We were both trying to finish for the win.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"West Anchorage’s Maria Hrgovic returns a shot against a Juneau-Douglas team as her doubles partner Grace Yang looks on at the Alaska State High School Tennis Tournament on Saturday, Oct. 10, at the Alaska Club East in Anchorage. (Photo by Michael Dinneen for the Daily News) <\/p>\n

The longest match of the finals and last to wrap saw the second-seeded pairing of Maria Hrgovic and Grace Yang of West upset the top-ranked duo of Aurora Madsen and Fallon Dale of Juneau-Douglas.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really awesome,\u201d Yang said. \u201cI know both of us really wanted it.\u201d<\/p>\n

This unfinished business was three years in the making as Hrgovic was part of an Eagles girls doubles pairing that came in second at state in 2024. Yang was one half of last year\u2019s runner-up tandem.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe lost to Juneau yesterday, and it was a little hard to deal with that, but we kind of went home and really thought through the match, and then the next day we came and were ready for Juneau,\u201d Yang said.<\/p>\n

\"\"West Anchorage’s Maria Hrgovic returns a shot against a Juneau-Douglas team as her doubles partner Grace Yang looks on at the Alaska State High School Tennis Tournament on Saturday, Oct. 10, at the Alaska Club East in Anchorage. (Photo by Michael Dinneen for the Daily News) <\/p>\n

By winning their rematch against the Crimson Bears, the West team forced a final match, since the tournament has a double-elimination format and both teams had one loss.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we beat them the first time today, it really helped us,\u201d Hrgovic said.<\/p>\n

Their mindset heading into the final match was to take it \u201cone point at a time,\u201d according to Yang, and not get caught up in the score.<\/p>\n

While this was their first year playing together, their preexisting friendship off the court helped them become a better tandem on it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a lot of practice over the years,\u201d Hrgovic said. \u201cWe\u2019ve always played together, but this was our first year being partners, so that definitely helped with the team chemistry.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"West Anchorage’s Lana Cebrian returns a shot against West Valley’s Leah Austin at the Alaska State High School Tennis Tournament on Saturday, Oct. 10, at the Alaska Club East in Anchorage. (Photo by Michael Dinneen for the Daily News) <\/p>\n

The girls singles finals match also saw a representative from West prevail, but unlike in doubles, there was no upset as top-seeded Lana Cebrian capped off her dominant prep career with her third state title.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m excited and happy,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s my senior year, so I\u2019m really, really happy I went all out for my senior year. I\u2019m really happy I stuck with tennis. It\u2019s a passion.\u201d<\/p>\n

She was impressed by her opponent, Leah Austin of West Valley, whom she played Friday. In Saturday\u2019s championship, Cebrian won 6-2, 6-0.<\/p>\n

\u201cLeah locked in a lot with this one, especially in the first set,\u201d Cebrian said. \u201cI feel like I locked in a lot during the second set.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"West Anchorage’s Lana Cebrian and West Valley’s Leah Austin meet at the net after the girls singles championship at the Alaska State High School Tennis Tournament on Saturday, Oct. 10, at the Alaska Club East in Anchorage. (Photo by Michael Dinneen for the Daily News) <\/p>\n

She said she grew emotional after the win because tennis means \u201ceverything\u201d to her.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really happy with my parents for teaching us and telling us we should do tennis,\u201d Cebrian said. \u201cHow we started out in Wasilla to here has been a huge improvement. \u2026 Without their guidance, helping us to get to where we are and the teachings, it all goes to my parents.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to finishing as a state champion, the University of Portland commit is happy to be passing the torch to her younger sister Cherish, who finished second at regions and third at state as a freshman.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope she will win all her matches and games,\u201d Cebrian said. \u201cI plan to support her from afar since I\u2019ll be gone for college, and I want her to at least keep it up.\u201d<\/p>\n

West head coach Ben Larson spent most of the girls doubles final match pacing and limbering up with squats and high knees behind the court to get rid of some nervous energy and prepare himself to deliver on a promise that has become an annual tradition at the state tournament.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we win regions or state, I do a backflip for the team,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I\u2019m not as young as I used to be, so I got to warm it up a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Lathrop’s Bode Leonelli and teammate Lilly Anderson wait for a return shot during the mixed doubles final at the Alaska State High School Tennis Tournament on Saturday, Oct. 10, at the Alaska Club East in Anchorage. (Photo by Michael Dinneen for the Daily News) <\/p>\n

After the awards ceremony concluded and the Eagles were crowned team champions for the eighth year in a row and 14th time in program history, he made good on his promise after an impressive week of performances by West.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo many teams outperformed expectations,\u201d Larson said. \u201cGirls doubles at the end. The Juneau team they played is tremendously skilled and incredibly well-coached. I knew it was going to be an uphill battle, but they really dug down and played such a solid match.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also commended the efforts of junior Adam Kaufman, who went from almost withdrawing from the tournament entirely due to a debilitating back injury to gutting it out and finishing in third place for the second year in a row.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe managed to fight through it, loosened up as the days went on and got a top-three finish behind some really good players,\u201d Larson said.<\/p>\n

\"\"Service’s Shiloh Perkins returns a shot in front of teammate Ryan Hung during a doubles match at the Alaska State High School Tennis Tournament on Saturday, Oct. 10, at the Alaska Club East in Anchorage. (Photo by Michael Dinneen for the Daily News) <\/p>\n

Even their second girls doubles team of Mckenna Hanson and Madigan Carey exceeded expectations.<\/p>\n

\u201cGoing into the season, I never would have expected them to make state at all, let alone get us points here but ended up tying for fifth place,\u201d Larson said.<\/p>\n

With Cebrian being their only champion graduating in the spring, West is poised to be a favorite to repeat again next year.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery year is a new puzzle, a new challenge, a new time to dig in and try to make the best you can out of all the pieces that you got and we have a lot of good pieces to put on the board,\u201d Larson said. \u201cI think we\u2019ll be really tough to beat as long as nothing crazy happens.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Elias Barnard of Bettye Davis East High watches his drop shot as teammate Bridget Hall looks on during the mixed doubles final at the Alaska State High School Tennis Tournament on Saturday, Oct. 10, at the Alaska Club East in Anchorage. (Photo by Michael Dinneen for the Daily News) ASAA 2026 State Tennis Championship<\/p>\n

Finals<\/p>\n

Boys Singles: Todd Debenham (Dimond) over Han Keum (Service), 6-0, 6-7 (6-8), 1-0 (10-7)<\/p>\n

Girls Singles: Lana Cebrian (West) over Leah Austin (West Valley), 6-2, 6-0<\/p>\n

Boys Doubles: Shilo Perkins\/Ryan Hung (Service) over Jared Sabey\/ Henri Van Den Berg- (Lathrop), 6-3, 6-3<\/p>\n

Girls Doubles: Maria Hrgovic\/ Grace Yang (West) over Aurora Madsen\/ Fallon Dale (Juneau), 3-5, 5-4, 1-0 (10-7)<\/p>\n

Mixed Doubles: Lilly Anderson\/ Bode Leonelli (Lathrop) over Elias Barnard\/Bridget Hall (East), 6-3, 6-3<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Todd Debenham of Dimond returns a shot during the boys singles final at the Alaska State High School…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":880385,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[99,369914,428],"class_list":["post-880384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-sports","tag-state-tennis","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=880384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880384\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/880385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=880384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=880384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=880384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}