COLUMBIA BASIN 3A PRE-SEASON PREDICTIONS

BOYS

ONES TO WATCH: Jeff Carlson, so, West Valley (district third place, regional qualifier, all-league first team, 2008 Coke Classic third place); Jake Knox, jr., and Curtis Lan, jr., Hanford (state third place, all-league first team); Micah Spaun, jr., Eastmont (all-league first team, 2008 Coke Classic fourth place); Anh-Vu Thai, jr., Kamiakin (all-league first team).

AROUND THE LEAGUE: West Valley put up a second-place showing earlier this month in the Coke Classic at Kissel Park with Carlson's third-place finish in the top singles. Cyrus Bricel was second in the No. 2 singles and Daniel Wenkler third in the No. 3 singles. ... Sunnyside has Randy DeRuyter back and will be bolstered by the additions of Jay Kima and Anthony Kim (no relation). ... Hanford tied for sixth place at state last year while Kennewick was deadlocked for 10th.

GIRLS

ONES TO WATCH: Caitlin Bampton, sr., Kamiakin (regional qualifier in singles, all-league first team, 2006 district champion in singles); Alexis Filliol, West Valley, so. (district and regional runner-up, state champion in singles); Stephanie Hamilton, sr., Southridge (all-league first team); Molly Mayer, jr., Easmont (all-league first team); Erin Salisbury, sr., Southridge (all-league first team).

AROUND THE LEAGUE: Defending district, regional and state champion West Valley returns state winner Filliol, but the team graduated a strong senior class. West Valley does return Shae Oswalt and is bolstered by newcomers Tate Foster, Kaitlyn Bowman, Meg Guchee and Ashley George, the latter two who have played plenty at the tennis club. ... Madonna Gonzalez, Elvira Chiprez and Jamie Ziljstra return for Sunnyside. ... It was a crowning year for the CBL 3A girls at state as they took first and second in singles and first and fourth in doubles. But Filliol is the only medal winner back. Besides the Rams, Kennewick was third and Hanford fourth in the state team standings.