Girls tennis returned from spring break with a busy schedule ahead of them.
After a few days of practice, the team traveled to Cascade Christian for an away match and returned with a 4-1 win. Cascade had strengthened their team with a State level player returning from injury, and she immediately got a win for Cascade at numbe 1 singles — but Vashon’s number 1, Paisley Lieske, worked hard and made her earn it. At number 2 singles, Maggie Battisti took a nice 6-4, 6-1 victory. Vashon then swept the doubles — Tobin Vaughn/Lia Crawford won at 6-2, 6-4, Lauren Henly/Ashley McArthur prevailed at 6-3, 6-1 and Sarah Cooper/Mira Zike took their match at 6-3, 6-1 as well.
The JV teams also had strong wins with Margot Armstrong/Clara Atwell and Bea Quarta/Aislin Pickney winning 8-4 and 8-0 respectively.
On Saturday, the team hosted an annual round robin tournament with Puyallup, Emerald Ridge and Kentwood all visiting. The format is more about playing a lot of new players and getting valuable playing time in different situations than winning matches. However, the Vashon team did very well against what are all 4A schools.
Lieske went 2-1 at number 1 singles, Battisti went 3-0 at number 2 singles and Pickney went 1-2 at number 3 singles. In doubles, Vaughn/Crawford went 1-2, Henly/McArthur also went 1-2, and Cooper/Quarta, playing together for the first time, went 0-3. As usual, the round robin was a lot of fun and everyone got in a lot of tennis.
Next up for the Pirates was a rematch with an ultra-strong Charles Wright team. With a star player returning from injury, CW was even stronger than the last match. CW is probably a favorite to win State this year, and it showed as they rolled over the Pirates with a 5-0 win.
Things didn’t get much easier for the next match as a strong, undefeated Lincoln team came to Vashon. Always a large and enthusiastic team, Lincoln used their early momentum to win 5-0. The Pirates were close in most matches, but let a few early opportunities slip and couldn’t control their game. The Pirate JVs did have some nice wins in this match.
Next week, Vashon wraps up their home season on Tuesday, playing Cascade Christian — which will also be Senior Day. On Thursday, they travel to CW for their league finale. On May 9, the team will send its representatives to the Nisqually League Tournament at the Galbraith Center in Tacoma. On May 15 and 16, the team will send any players that qualify to the District Tournament at Sprinker Tennis Center in Tacoma.
— Pat Mulvihill is the VHS JV tennis coach
