Even though she is only a sophomore, Anna Sanford of the Olentangy Orange High School girls tennis team ended up being the veteran of the Division I district singles tournament Oct. 15 at Hilliard Davidson.

Sanford was the district’s only state-qualifying singles player who had played in the state tournament in singles before. She lost to eventual champion Sandy Niehaus of Cincinnati Mount Notre Dame 6-0, 6-1 in a state quarterfinal last year.

“It’s exciting to be back. I want to improve my results from last year,” said Sanford, who defeated Dublin Coffman’s Ashwatha Thenappan 6-1, 6-1 in a district semifinal and Dublin Jerome’s Emma Stein 6-1, 6-3 in the final. “I’ve been working hard to reach that goal.”

Sanford will face Aurora’s Madelyn Gilley in the first round of the state tournament, which will be held Friday and Saturday, Oct. 21 and 22, at Ohio State.

She was the only Olentangy school district player to advance. Orange seniors Ayla Hood and Lindsay Spragg lost to Hilliard Bradley’s Ashley Thai and Lauren Thai 6-3, 6-1 in the first round of doubles. Liberty sophomore Sydney Power was eliminated by Stein 6-3, 6-4 in a quarterfinal and Olentangy junior Megan Brdicka lost to New Albany’s Jane Haffer 6-0, 6-3 in the first round.

Although their trip to the district tournament was short, Hood and Spragg made program history just by qualifying.

They were the Pioneers’ first doubles team to qualify for the district tournament.

“We’ve always wanted to make it here, but we never had the right skills. We worked really hard to get here,” Hood said. “We just tried to do our best and put everything we had out on the court.”

•Power said she will use her loss to Stein as motivation for next season.

“She got everything back and I just mentally broke down,” said Power, who lost to Westlake’s Lauren Golick 6-4, 6-4 in the first round of the state tournament last year. “I wanted to go back to states so badly this year, but I can’t change that now. I’m definitely motivated for next year.”

Liberty finished 10-4 overall and second in the OCC-Cardinal Division with a 6-1 record and 54 points.

Jerome won all five courts in the OCC-Cardinal tournament Oct. 4 at Olentangy to win the league title with the maximum 77 points and a 7-0 record in dual matches. Westerville Central was third (5-2, 42), followed by Dublin Scioto (4-3, 37), Olentangy (2-5, 27), Westerville South (3-4, 19), Westerville North (1-6, 16) and Marysville (0-7, 1).

Power (first singles), senior Lauren DeVincent (second singles) and junior Alicia Dimaccio (third singles) all placed second in the league tournament. Senior Alyssa Miller and freshman Sonia Chhabria finished second at second doubles and junior Lindsey Groves and senior Jenny King placed third at first doubles.

The Patriots lose DeVincent, King, Deepthi Koralla and Miller to graduation, but Chhabria, Groves and Power are expected to return.

“This is my fourth year of coaching, so I have watched the seniors come all the way up through the ranks,” coach Christine Kaeding said. “It’s been exciting to watch them develop and become great leaders.”

•Brdicka was Olentangy’s first representative in the district tournament since Whitney Laurien in 2002.

“Oh man, it has been so much fun being the person to break the streak,” Brdicka said. “That has been my goal and I am so glad that I achieved that.”

“It’s kind of weird because I wasn’t around for all that time, but you hear people talk about it and you realize how big of a deal it is,” first-year coach Jeff Luxenburger said. “I just saw the excitement for the whole team about Megan getting here. They are all so proud of her.”

The Braves finished 6-7 overall and placed fifth (2-5, 27) in the OCC-Cardinal.

Olentangy defeated Marys-ville 5-0 on Aug. 23 to snap a 14-match losing streak that started in the 2009 season.

Brdicka was the only Braves player to advance from the Pickerington Central sectional tournament Oct. 6 and 8. She defeated Teays Valley’s Adrien Leatherwood 6-1, 6-1 in a consolation final to place third.

In singles, seniors Rachel Ratnasingham and Kayla White lost in the second round. In doubles, freshman Pallavi Mannava and senior Khyl Bachinski and sophomore Grace Cramer and senior Courtney Doyle lost in the second round.

In the OCC-Cardinal tournament, Brdicka (first singles), White (second singles) and Ratnasingham (third singles) all placed fourth.

Mannava and Bachinski finished fifth at second doubles and Cramer and Doyle finished seventh at first doubles.

The Braves lose Bachinski, Doyle, Ratnasingham and White to graduation. Brdicka, Cramer and Mannava are expected to return.