The News staff report

WILLIS — Jayci Wong of Nederland reached the girls singles championship match of the 5A Region III tennis championship tournament Wednesday and earned her first state tournament berth.

Wong became the first freshman from Nederland to reach the state tournament. She won her playback match over Claire Slaughter of Kingwood Park 6-2, 1-6, 6-4, to solidify second place. Wong fell to Esther Lovato of Pflugerville Connally 6-1, 6-2 in the title match.

Wong’s finish comes more than a week after she won the District 22-5A championship. She beat Isabella Venegas of Fort Bend Ridge Point 6-0, 6-1; Meera Vadali of College Station 6-0, 6-0 and Nina Elez of Stratford 6-4, 6-3 to reach the title round.

Wong will complete at Texas A&M University for state, May 15-17.

Port Neches-Groves’ Courtney Marsh, competing in her third regional tournament, beat Adriana Pena of Houston Waltrip 6-1, 6-0 before losing to Lovato 6-0, 6-0.

Nederland also had wins in girls doubles and mixed doubles. Sofia Selwesiuk and Lyna Tran beat Micah Denny and Macy Gonzales of Barbers Hill 7-5, 6-4 before falling to Rachel Dziuk and Alessandra Jara of George Ranch 6-0, 6-1. Alex Luketich and Jessica Nguyen of Nederland beat Reagan Abington and Andrea Mertins of Kingwood Park 6-0, 6-1, before Tory Templin and Lily Taylor of A&M Consolidated beat the Bulldog pair 6-1, 6-1.

Tyler Williams of Nederland fell in his first-round match to Greg Goetschius of Texas City 6-2, 6-0 in boys singles. PN-G’s Matt Giesel and Seth Lamson dropped their first-rounder in boys doubles to William Hendrickson and Chris Moolchan of Stratford, 6-1, 6-0.