Mount Si’s boys’ tennis team is improving, but still struggling to put one in the win column.

The Wildcats fell at Sammamish last Thursday, Oct. 23. The Totems took six of the nine matches. Wins for Mount Si were by Stephen Salmon and Ryan Oswald in singles, and Scott Paophavihanh and Tyler Ostby in doubles. Salmon beat Sammamish’s Mike Mantell 6-3, 7-5, while Oswald routed Totem Anthony Fallon in a big way, 6-2, 6-0.

“Ryan played his best tennis of the whole year and won,” said Mount Si coach Jim Gibowski. “He had a nice combination of power and control.”

The Wildcat doubles pair of Paophavihanh and Ostby rallied to win 6-7, 6-3, 10-3. The third set was played in a super tie-breaker.

“They showed a lot of mental toughness,” Gibowski said. “I was really pleased with the whole team in our match against Sammamish. We had our best intensity of the season. When we played them at the beginning of the season, we lost 0-9, so 3-6 was a nice improvement.”

Previously, on Friday, Oct. 17, the Wildcats played Garfield in a makeup of a match previously postponed. It was a tight one, with the Bulldogs eking out the 5-4 victory.

Winners for Mount Si were Paophavihanh, 6-1, 6-2 over Garfield’s Travis Burgstahler; Salmon, 6-1 6-4 over the Bulldogs’ Robin Adriage; Brian Johnson, 6-2, 7-6 (7-5 tiebreak) over Garfield’s Sam Koelle; and Johnson and Salmon in doubles, 9-8 (7-4) over Koelle and Adriage. Paophavihanh and Mitch Hubner fought hard in doubles, and had a great chance to win their contest, but fell 3-6, 6-1, 10-8 to Burgstahler and Aaron Kovar of the Bulldogs.