Vashon High School sent two senior tennis players to the state tennis tournament in Yakima on May 26 and 27. Josh Tillman qualified from the boys’ team — which ended its season in the fall, but Tillman has waited until spring for the state tournament — and Taryn Mulvihill qualified from the girls’ team — which just ended its season.
Both players played singles for VHS and qualified by placing second in the district tournaments. It has been several years since Vashon has sent any players to state, let alone two in the same season. VHS plays in a competitive district, with few allocations to state, so this was an exceptional achievement for both players. Mulvihill had missed the spot to state by one position the last two years.
The tournament was held at the Yakima Tennis Club, which turned out to be great venue for playing and for watching the matches. Fortunately, the weather was a bit cooler than usual, but at times the wind was a factor. The draw for the tournament was exceptionally deep this year; many players were playing for their second or third time. Both Vashon players had similar experiences and results in the tournament.
Tillman’s first match was against a strong and experienced player from Chelan. After starting slowly in the first set, Tillman made a nice comeback to make things interesting, but couldn’t overcome his slow start. The next set was very competitive as he found some weaknesses in his opponent’s game, but experience paid off for the Chelan player, who won the second set as well. Next, Tillman played a loser-out match against another tough player with an unorthodox-but-effective forehand. The two split the first two sets which were very close, and it looked as if Tillman would win the decisive third, but his opponent came up with several clutch shots toward the end of the match and won the last set 7-5. Tillman’s season ended there.
Mulvihill got an even worse draw for the first round, playing a young phenom from Annie Wright, who went on to win the tournament. Although the set scores were lopsided, Mulvihill played well and was competitive; she just could not win the critical points and lost in two sets. In her next match, she had a little trouble with her normally dependable serve and got off to a slow start, losing the first set and going down 5-2 in the second. She then fought back to 5-5 to make the match interesting, and it looked as if she might complete a comeback. From that point, though, she could not quite hold on to her momentum and ended up losing 7-5 in what was her last high school match.
Overall, both players showedcomposure, showed exemplary sportsmanship and were great representatives on and off the court. Each of them came close to advancing further and had the skills to do so, but a lack of experience in the state tournament hurt their chances at critical times in their matches.
One tournament doesn’t define a high school career, and both players have had an amazing four years on the high school tennis teams. Getting to state is an excellent achievement for both themselves and the entire tennis program, and they could not have done so without the help and support of their teammates all year long.
— Pat Mulvihill is the assistant coach of the VHS girls’ tennis team.
