Warm weather and blue skies at the Marge Command Courts of Highline Community College on Friday, April 22, greeted top tennis action showcasing unbeaten Kennedy Catholic against Evergeen as the squads loosened up in comfortable conditions.

The Lancers shot past the Wolverines 5-2 in Seamount League team tennis to move up to 12-0 for the season.

Mitch and Jamie Thorp emerged from the court first with a 6-0, 6-0, stoppage of the Wolverine pair of Jason Nacom and Brian Quach in No. 1 boys doubles.

Senior Chloe Miller then methodically outstroked Evergreen's Michelle Chen, 6-0, 6-0, for the girls singles event win.

Momentum continued to roll with the Lancers as the tandem of Alex Quackenbush and Maddie Holdaas downed a game pair of Mary Vo and Monica Truong 6-1, 6-0, for a 3-0 team lead.

In No. 2 girls doubles, the Wolverine duo of sophomore Tilly Kit and freshman Maria Prieto fell to Kristen Farnam and Tessa Gorton, 6-0, 6-2, but still enjoyed the learning experience against a tough team.
"We let our emotions get hold of us in the first set," admitted Prieto.
Kit was still upbeat about the experience.

"It's all good," she said. "We got two points and communicated better in the second set after we analyzed what we needed to do. We really enjoyed it."

Boys doubles No. 2 highlighted a competitive and combative matchup before Kennedy Catholic's Boris Oks and Cody Huynh stroked out a 6-4, 6-2, win against Cong Nguyen and Phi-thai Nguyen.
Nguyen and Nguyen had miscues on overheads that could have tightened the match even more. In the end, the Lancers were just more consistent.

Evergreen posted a team point on the strength of Sameer Vohra's 6-1, 6-3, boys singles victory against Taas Sribhibbadh. The match showed long rallies and exchanges from the baseline with both players matching baseline accuracy and power shots.

"I decided to work more on consistency," Vohra said. "In the first set, I made too many unforced errors in the beginning."

Mixed doubles displayed a hard fought match that was decided in a modified super tie-breaker format. Michael Nguyen's full court coverage for Evergreen provided the deciding factor.

Janice Huang and Nguyen closed out the first set, 6-3, on a winning forehand from Nguyen before Tharm and Dena Sribhibbadh brought the Lancers back in a 6-2 second set victory to set the stage for the special third set format.
Evergreen moved ahead early in the tie-breaker, but Kennedy closed within 7-5 in the first to 10 with at least a two-point difference rules. Nguyen held serve ahead of Kennedy closing within 8-7. A trading of points had the Wolverines ahead 9-8 to give Nguyen the chance to power a down the line forehand winner for the set and the end of mixed doubles.
Although Nguyen showed full court coverage, Evergreen coach Doris Burdin was also pleased with Huang's play.
"Janice is new and hung in there," Burdin stated.
Kennedy Catholic's Tharm spoke about his team's view.
"The guy (Nguyen) was really strong," he observed. "We tried to avoid him and hit down th emiddle. We also tried to hit to his backhand because he slices it."

Burdin concluded with an overview of her squad.

"They're nice Kids," Burdin said. "Sameer and Michael played in district last year. Jason was half of our district doubles team. He and Brian needed that tough match (in No. 1 doubles) to get an idea of what it's about. The boys and girls on the team all work hard. Our kids are young in experience as a whole."

According to Lancer coach Mary Ann Thorp, girls varsity player Catherine Lee was unavailable due to her participation in the running start program.