As the Seamount League tennis regular season winds down, teams are on the verge of determining lineups for postseason action.
On Monday, April 23, at Highline High School, Kennedy Catholic posted a 7-2 team tennis victory against the Highline Pirates as both squads surveyed their players and evaluated future singles and doubles choices.
"Our girls team is young and inexperienced this season, but the girls are getting better and better each match," observed Lancer varsity coach Maryann Thorp. "Due to the (inclement) weather, we've had few practices. It's like hands-on training during the matches. They're great kids."
The returning boys team is in sharp contrast to the girls in terms of experience.
"The boys are really strong," she added. "The boys are doing so great. We just need to find playing time for all of them. It will be difficult to decide who plays."
Paramount among the talented and experienced group are Mitch and Jamie Thorp, who are back after winning last season's Class 3A boys doubles state championship. Taas Sribhibhadh played in boys state singles.
Kennedy Catholic began its joust for victory with a win in No. 2 girls singles. Southpaw freshman Hannah Baillie had her hands full before out stroking Trinh Tran, 6-3, 6-2.
"This was hard," Baillie said. "I had good serves and had to charge to the net for her drop shots. It was important for me to hit shots deep to the baseline. She also had some unforced errors."
Taas Sribhibhadh also worked hard before subduing Highline's Kyle Swain, 6-3, 6-3, in No. 1 boys singles to send the Lancers into a 2-0 point lead in matches completed.
It was the next completed match in the warmth and brightness of the late afternoon day in spring that totally brought out the enduring competitive fires of the No. 2 girls doubles participants.
Keli Brown and Kayla O'Sullivan of Kennedy Catholic stroked well to annex a 6-2 first set win against the HHS tandem of Andrea Mandt and Angelica Yu. After a brief respite, Mandt and Yu completely turned the tide against Brown and O'Sullivan for a second set 6-2 triumph, thus necessitating a third set super tie-breaker duel that drew the attention of many onlookers.
At first, the Lancer tandem appeared to be dominate en route to a 4-1 control. Back sailed the Pirates to create a tightly contested fray that eventually reached a deadlock at 11-11. Highline grabbed a 12-11 lead, but the Lancers survived two match points before KC evened it at 12-12. An O'Sullivan backhand to the deep corner earned match point for her team. The back-and-forth match ended on an HHS double fault (14-12).
"Our strategy was to go to the net and make less errors," said O'Sullivan.
Brown strongly agreed with her partner.
"We definitely had fewer unforced errors in the first set," she said.
Performing in No. 1 girls singles for Kennedy, Olivia Lyons fought off a tough challenge from Nhi Lam en route to a 6-3, 6-2 win as JFK reached the brink of the total team triumph in the best of nine matches.
"She was hard to play against," Lyons said. "I had to mix up my shots and angles with drop shots and deep shots to the baseline."
Highline delayed the Lancers' clinching match win with a 6-0, 6-0, victory from the girls No. 1 duo of Blake Henley and Jennalee Gould against Gretchen Martin and Megan Shaheen.
According to the Pirate duo, who qualified for 3A state in 2010 and just missed returning to state last season, the score was deceptive due to their own high standards of play in only their second match as a team this season.
"It was tougher than it should have been," said Henley.
Gould went into more specifics about the encounter.
"We didn't play well and still have a lot of work to do to get our rhythm back as a team," Gould stated.
Clinching the total team win was Vincent Villoria in a solid 6-0, 6-2 No. 2 boys singles domination of Justin Vu.
According to Villoria, he has been working with his private tennis coach in Bellevue on a number of elements with footwork and racket speed being among the top priorities.
"Vince is playing the best tennis I've seen from him," noted coach Thorp. "I'm looking forward to seeing him play in the post season."
Following Villoria's win, the Pirate boys No. 1 doubles duo of Ky Nhan and Kily Nhan took the measure of Porter Fernandez and James Dang, 6-3, 6-4.
"They have improved a lot and are hard workers," said HHS coach Scott Babcock. "They have the right attitude and are great to work with on and off the court."
Kennedy Catholic swept the final two matches to close out the day in fine fashion.
Junior Lancer Tharm Sribhibhadh and Brandon Lowry stroked past Bao Vu and Anthony Vuong in a 6-3, 6-4, No. 2 boys doubles match ahead of a Mitch Thorp and Kari Myers 6-3, 6-2 defeat of Jason Hewett and Stephanie Anderson in the mixed doubles finale.
