PORTLAND – The Hermiston girls tennis team is now in prime position to grab the second team state title for their school this season – both under coach Curt Berger – in the final day of the OSAA Class 5A State Championships today.

“We’re in the driver’s seat,” coach Curt Berger said. “We had a fantastic two days and we just need to take care of business tomorrow.”

Friday started with the quarterfinal round and pitted the Dawgs’ Chelsey Vandewall and Alison Hawman against the third-seeded sibling duo out of Wilsonville, Kristen and Allison Petsche.

Also in the quarterfinals, Rebecca and Richole Berger faced the team they beat for the Intermountain Conference championship in The Dalles-Wahtonka’s Chelsee Gay and Emily Irby.

Both teams won with relative ease. Vandewall and Hawman topped the Petsches 6-4, 6-2, while the Bergers won 6-0, 6-4.

“That’s a big deal,” coach Berger said of Vandewall and Hawman’s win over the Petsches. “When you can go out and take out seeded teams, that’s a big deal in any sport.”

That set up an all-Hermiston semifinal on their side of the bracket, which Rebecca and Richole won 6-1, 6-0.

In boys singles action, No. 1 seed Darren Ramcharan fell to unseeded West Albany senior Matt Baumgartner after losing a third-set tiebreaker. He won the first set 6-2 but then fell 7-5, 7-6 (6) in the next two.

One Hermiston boys tennis player still stands, though, as junior Jacob Crowther is set to play in the consolation bracket finals against West Albany sophomore Michael Baumgartner.

He won his first match in the bracket Friday over Cleveland junior Charlie Stanford 8-1 and followed that with a 8-3 victory over Crescent Valley junior Kevin Wong.

With the Bergers in the finals taking on the No. 2-seeded Churchill team of Kody Jo Jaffarian and Steffie Ballman, and the team of Vandewall/Hawman facing the No. 4 seeded team of Crescent Valley’s Lauren Wilk and Eleanor Crummel in the third-place match, the Hermiston girls have guaranteed themselves at least 10 points in the final standings.

“That’s going to be a great match and one that we can win,” Curt Berger said of the third-place match.

The victory in that match would give Vandewall and Hawman the same finish at state that they attained in the IMC tournament.

He said the finals match should be theirs, “but nothing is for sure.”

A win in the finals would also cap off an undefeated year for Rebecca Berger and give her a fourth straight doubles state title, two of which she won with older sister Rachel.

If everything works according to plan, they’ll walk away with 13 points and the state title.

“The most we could score at the state tournament on a perfect weekend is 13 and we’re going to score 13,” Berger said. “That should win the state title. When you go to a tournament and you can score the maximum amount of points you can score, that’s as good as you can do.”

A team win today would cap off a dream year for Curt Berger, after his wrestling team won the state title in February.

“Its been a great run and it’s been fun for me of course because I’ve got a lot invested in this girls program,” he said. “It’s nice to have things work out.”