VANCOUVER - After rallying past higher-seeded teams to reach the Class 3A state tennis tournament, the Mount Rainier duo ran into extremely tough competition at the Vancouver Tennis Center on Friday, May 27.
"We lost two and that was the end of our day," said Ram head coach Tim Lee.
Mead's girls doubles team of Elise Ellingsen and Chelsea Motzer dropped the hard fighting Mount Rainier pair, 6-4, 6-3, in the opening round.
District 1 champions Alyssa Gilbert and Jenna Gilbert of Kamiak then controlled the action in a 6-0, 6-2 defeat of senior Shannon Wong and junior Alexis Gregerson.
Brittany Ellingsen and Anna Romanovsky from Skyview of the Greater St. Helen's League survived a third set tie-breaker to win the championship in a 6-2, 6-7, 7-6, three-set battle against Kentwood's Tess Mantou and Eliana Spero.
Mantou and Spero were up 5-1 in the third set and serving for the title, but Skyview roared back to tie the set at 5-5. After the Kentood pair went up 6-5, the Storm rallied back to force a tiebreaker.
The tiebreaker was knotted at 4-4, 5-5 and 6-6 before a Kentwood shot hit the net tape and rolled back onto the Conqueror side of the court.
In the girls singles championship match, Elaine Baik of Kamiak beat Stanwood's Megan Lalone 6-3, 6-2 to aid Kamiak's team title conquest.
On the boys side, Jackson junior Michael Chamerski held off Federal Way's Mitch Stewart, 6-4, 6-4 in the boys singles final, helping the Timberwolves to the team crown.
Hunter Wood and John Stormans of Olympia captured the boys doubles No. 1 spot in a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Bellarmine Prep's Keenan Dolan and Spencer Herron.