By Gerardo Bolong

Highline combined a pair of wins each in singles and doubles to earn a 4-3 Seamount league girls tennis team home win against Tyee at the Pirate home courts in Burien on Fri., April 18.

"The girls played some good tennis and are improving as individuals," said HHS head coach Scott Babcock.

With the rain conditions ceasing and desisting in favor of a warm spring day, the Pirates began with Jacqueline King stroking past Jaskuar Kaar of Tyee, 6-3, 6-1, in No. 1 singles.

Highline's Disney Vorng concentrated on hitting more top spin shots instead of just hitting the ball flat to rotate by Angela Kim, 6-0, 6-0, for the No. 2 singles win.

It was time for Tyee to triumph in a No. 1 doubles,6-3, 6-4, against Nhi Lam and Angelica Yu.
"Our goal is to get to the net and it worked well,today," said Janice Roman, who teamed with Cresse Torrado to defeat the Pirate tandem. "We just want to keep winning matches, place at league and get to districts."

The Pirates returned to winning ways with Jathxing Salazar and Amanda Anderson battling by Hertej Sohi and Diana Duong, 7-5, 6-1, for the No. 2 doubles victory.

"Communication is the most important part," Salazar said. "My partner and I have played together for three years and work like a well-oiled machine. I would like us to make district and possibly state. We try to be aggressive at net as well as use angles. Today, we worked to avoid the player at net. we still need to work on consistency."

Senior Andrea Mandt paired with Julie Hoang to post the winning match for Highline in a 6-1, 6-1, No. 3 doubles win against Totem players Itzel Montoya and Rebekkah Paulsen.

"I revised my serve quite a bit to work on a higher toss and faster serve. We'd like to win some matches, have fun and improve."

Tyee finished strongly as Tuyen Tran stroked through Jordan Graham, 6-3, 6-2, at No.4 singles while Amanda

Saeteurn fought hard to claim a No. 3 singles victory against Isabelle Heie in the final matches of the late afternoon-early evening face off.

Buoyed by Tyee's 4-3 win against Foster - the first team win in two years - first year Totem head coach Stefan Green wants to build a strong program by starting small and gradually growing the amount of tennis experiences available to local players.

Green has 10 years experience in coaching with assistant and head coaching experience at Bethel High school plus a year as the coach at Graham-Kapowsin. He played mens singles at Pacific Lutheran University and currently plays United States Tennis Association events. He also teaches math to IEP students at Highline High School.

"The girls have made decent progress since the start of the season and are improving every match," he said. "I've emphasized regular routines for warming up and preparing for matches. Besides getting the kids out to play and want them to understand the strategy, especially doubles, such as thinking two shots ahead and being consistent."

According to Green, he wants to set up summer programs that offer opportunities for local players and also is working with the City of Burien for summer programs that benefit middle school children. A main goal is to offer a summer tennis camp.