The 2026 Westview girls tennis team. (Photo from Colleen Docktor)

The recent run of success for Westview girls tennis has been something new for the program.

The Wildcats first-ever state title came in 2022, and they only finished second once before that in 2019. 

Now in 2026, the Wildcats are defending state champs after winning a second crown last season.

But each season is new in the minds of co-head coaches Colleen Docktor and JaReda Webb, so they won’t be resting on whatever may have transpired a year ago.

“We don’t talk much about it because last year was last year, and this year is this year,” Docktor said. “They all did fantastic last year and they all have worked very hard to come back this season to be stronger.”

Westview has every reason to feel positive as the team is 10-1 in duals this year, the only loss coming 5-3 to league rival Jesuit.

The Wildcats sent two singles players and a doubles duo to state last year, and three of those four players are back alongside a growing culture under the coaching of Docktor and Webb in their third year leading the program.

“We have such a good team environment, outside of results,” Docktor said. “It’s really important to us because (Webb) and I both played in high school and a little bit in college. We played other sports with teams understanding that to build a team is very important and that’s a culture we’re trying to make. It’s not a bunch of individuals that go out and play under one banner, we’re a team that plays together.”

That culture of togetherness is evident with those three returning state qualifiers in senior Nikhitha Suresh, sophomore Vivienne Lu and Malavika Rahul.

Suresh was the top seed in the individual draw a season ago at state before falling to eventual champion Leah Lup out of West Linn 6-4, 6-0 in the semifinals.

Lu was on the other side of the bracket as a freshman, falling in the second round to eventual runnerup Sofia Sorokina out of Nelson.

Meanwhile in doubles, Rahul worked alongside Tessa Rozendal to win the girls doubles state title and clinch the team crown with 19 points compared to West Linn’s 16.

The three have mixed and matched throughout the season, playing as single and double partners with success in each stop, most notable with all three winning their individual matches in the dual with Jesuit.

For Suresh, who is committed to play for Portland State next year, the fuel for 2026 has been easy after falling short of the state match a year ago.

“We’ve talked about it a little bit, but we don’t talk about it a lot,” Docktor said of Suresh’s result last year. “She’s playing beautifully, we’ve seen growth from last year to this year, even someone at her level you can still see improvement.

“She’s one of our captains this year and really taking a leadership role with everyone from the JV all the way through the varsity.”

Despite the early exit last year, Lu certainly has what it takes to make a deeper run in 2026 with the way she’s handled the No. 1 single spot at times throughout the season.

“In my estimation, you don’t really know what high school tennis is about until you get there, and she handled it beautifully last year (as a freshman),” Docktor said of Lu. “She’s so much fun to watch on the court both with her singles and doubles.”

Rahul is one of the other captains along with juniors Yurui Lin and Lily Fast to help bolster the strong team dynamic that’s led to the success in the Wildcats program.

They’ll be looking for success in the dual rematch with Jesuit coming up, plus the Metro League district finals set for May 14-16 at Tualatin Hills Park and Rec.

Docktor said the goal is always for everyone to give their effort and take care of the match that’s in front of them. But there’s no denying the talent, and Docktor has seen enough to know that anything can happen come state time, which is May 21-23 at Tualatin Hills.

“We feel very positive going into the end of this season and what is ahead, but also districts come first,” Docktor said. “League comes first, and you have to perform in league for districts to be as great as they can be. From there, stuff happens.”

Summit reloading with sophomore class

Summit and La Salle Prep tied for the team state crown a year ago, but the Storm have looked different in 2026.

All four state qualifiers aren’t back with three gone due to graduation and the fourth being junior Kate Bonetto, the reigning state champion. She’s taking the year off to focus on college plans as well as heal up from an injury.

Still, Bonetto is around the team to help cheer them on and even coach them up at times according to first-year head coach Sherry Rogers.

The team she’s helping teach is filled with a sophomore class that Rogers described as similar to last year’s senior class that really gravitated to the sport at the start of high school and eventually turned it into the state title last year.

“Our No. 1 doubles team are sophomores,” Rogers said. “We are young and they seem hungry and hard working and that class is our biggest class. They very much remind me of that awesome group of seniors we lost last year. They’re close and they got the bug and they take lessons year round.”

That No. 1 doubles duo is composed of Adie Cook and Mara Finley, meanwhile there’s two more sophomores in Evie Ferrari and Harper Jensen right behind in the No. 2 doubles spot.

Another sophomore in Meghan Kelly is at the No. 2 singles spot, bringing home the fact that the 2028 class is already a problem and will continue to be one despite Bend and Redmond posing as the Intermountain Conference favorites this season in Rogers’ eyes.

Then there’s the leader of the pack in junior Teagan Campbell, who primarily plays at the No. 1 singles spot.

“There’s no question she was tight with the group that left,” Rogers said of Campbell. “There’s been a lot on a single pair of shoulders to kind of fill that gap. We talked about it and every year it’s a new team.

“Teagan is definitely embracing that role. She had a good tournament down in Roseburg.”

The second round of league duals is going on now where Rogers hopes to see continued improvement from her small but mighty squad.

Intermountain Conference district finals are set for May 15-16 at Mountain View and Caldera High School.

“Like we seem to do, started out maybe a little slow, finding our groove,” Rogers said. “I just want to have a stronger showing (in league round one) where we didn’t come out of the gates as strong as we could have. It’s always about improvement, lessons learned, applying it and seeing what we can do.”

New individual winners this year

All three individual state winners at the 6A, 5A and 4A/3A/2A/1A level were not seniors, but all have chosen not to play this season.

In 6A, it was West Linn freshman Leah Lup with 5A won by Summit sophomore Kate Bonetto and 4A/3A/2A/1A won by two-time champ Raegan Farm, a North Bend junior last year.

With all three out, new champions are set to emerge, including some of the names from Westview and Summit mentioned above.

Nelson junior Sofia Sorokina is another favorite after making the title match last year in 6A. West Linn senior Sonya Drayton was a semifinalist last year and could contend as well.

In 5A, Crescent Valley junior Keira Lin is the only returning semifinalist from last year, but has only played doubles this year.

Marist Catholic junior Whitney Hedden is back after falling in the 4A/3A/2A/1A title match last year. St. Mary’s Medford junior Carys Chamberland is also back after making the semifinals at state in 2025.