The Mount Si girls tennis team had some memorable efforts at last week’s Kingco Tournament, and it left one group of Wildcats on the doorstep to districts.
The doubles team of Shelby Thomas and Bailey Barnard punched an alternate slot to districts after having an amazing run through the doubles tournament. It opened May 8 with a win over Juanita’s pair of Alanda Hilborn and Lucy Weber 7-5, 3-6, 6-0. They then ran into trouble against Mercer Island’s Chelsea Bailey and Julia Schubach, falling to the tough Islander tandem 0-1, 0-6. The Mount Si duo then rallied against Sammamish’s Megan Baker and Morwenna Prober-Baker, taking that match 6-3, 6-4 to advance to play last Tuesday, May 11.
In that day’s competition, Thomas and Barnard faced Hilborn and Weber again, and once again, took the victory, this time in much easier fashion, 6-1, 6-3. That earned the Wildcat pair a date with another Mercer Island team, which also ended with a similar result to the Saturday contest against the Islanders. Thomas and Barnard fell 1-6, 0-6 to MI’s Kelly Crandall and Julia Zook. The Mount Si pair then rallied against Juanita’s Ashley Manzoni and Michelle Ichikawa, winning that match 6-1, 6-4 to set up a match for fourth place and the final SeaKing slot last Thursday, May 13. Thomas and Barnard fell in that match to Bellevue’s London Lee and Sabrina Tu 1-6, 0-6, costing them a guaranteed district berth but they are first alternates, meaning if one of the other teams which earned a berth is unable to compete, the Mount Si pair will be able to participate.
In other Mount Si results, Kaitlyn Usselman had a match she will remember in the singles during the May 8 round of matches. After making quick work of Bellevue’s Michelle Han 7-5, 6-1, Usselman took on Juanita’s Devin Clawson in a classic. The match went long, and we mean long. The two players battled for over 3 1/2 hours before Clawson eked it out in a tiebreaker. Usselman fell 2-6, 6-4, 6-7 (tiebreak 7-9). Usselman may have been tired after that one, but she didn’t let it show, as she came back and routed Sammamish’s Melanie Patterson 6-0, 6-1.
A loss in the first match last Tuesday ended Usselman’s run; the Wildcat fell to Liberty’s Amber Eastham 3-6, 1-6. Fellow Wildcat singles rep Jodie Magnuson played Eastham twice; first in the May 8 round, falling 5-7, 1-6, then again on May 11, falling 3-6, 1-6 to the Patriot player, ending her run. Those two losses sandwiched a win against Bellevue’s Mackenzie Urquhart 6-4, 6-1.
The other doubles tandem, Natalie Knoetgen and Lindsay Masters, fell twice in the May 8 round and were eliminated quickly. The Mount Si duo fell to Bellevue’s Paige Doyle and Megan Urquhart 5-7, 1-6 and the Manzoni/Ichikawa pair from Juanita 1-6, 1-6.
