By Gerardo Bolong

Eunica Serafica of Foster High School stayed in control at the West Central District Class 2A girls tennis tournament held at the Kitsap Athletic and Tennis Center in Bremerton on May 23-24.

Serafica concluded her journey to the state tournament to be held at the Nordstrom Center on the University of Washington campus beginning on May 30 by outlasting Melina Johnson of Olympic in three torrid sets of 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, to win the district's No. 3 seed to the state tournament.

On her way to the state spot, the Foster senior began by defeating Lauren Baker of Sumner, 6-1, 6-0. Serafica followed the victory by defeating Anne Marie Herbert of Olympic, 6-1, 6-3.

Eventual tournament champion Leizel Villanueva of Lindbergh beat the Bulldog ace, 6-33, 6-0, in the winners bracket semis to send Serafica into the consolation round where she then split the first two sets before nailing down the triumph against Johnson.

Villanueva powered past Kimberly Hoang of Renton in the first-second place match. Herbert finished fourth while Johnson became the No. 5 seed.

Evergreen representatives Cecelia Vu and Hao Trieu continued to draw attention with a fourth seed to state achievement. The Bulldog tandem drew a first round bye before fighting valiantly in a toe to toe 6-4, 4-6, 10-8 loss to eventual district champions Chelsea Rosebrook and Sarah Hamal of Kingston. Recovering from the heartbreaking loss, Vu and Trieu met Cressa Terrado and Janice Roman of Tyee.

The Totems were dispatched to the consolation round following a first round, 4-6, 6-1, 10-5, loss to Sarah Allen and Rachel Maki of Chimacum/Port Townsend. Trying to keep state hopes alive, the fellow Seamount League teams battled in a loser-out match with Vu and Trieu emerging with a 6-1, 6-0, triumph. Melanie Guan and Karen Chan of Sequim then fell to the Wolverine team in two sets to seal the state deal for fourth-seed Vu and Trieu.