Vashon girls’ tennis entered the last week of May with a 7-4 record and two difficult matches scheduled.

After a busy schedule last week, the Pirates caught up with a couple consecutive days of practice on Monday and Tuesday. The next day, they traveled to Stadium High in Tacoma, a 4A school that has a strong program with a large turnout. Vashon’s entire varsity and junior varsity teams had a chance to play.

The Pirates’ varsity won a close match, 3-2 with wins at singles by Taryn Mulvihill, doubles by Emmaline Wittwer/Lizzy Maciejewski and a nice win at doubles by Yulia Falia/Hannah Nelson to clinch the overall.

The JV team also won a close match, 5-4.

The next day, Vashon hosted Charles Wright and as expected, this was a tough match. The Pirates had lost to Charles Wright in their two prior meetings — first 5-0 and then 4-1. The final meeting again went to Charles Wright, 3-2, but the progression in scores indicates a steady improvement by the Pirates. Maciejewski had a strong comeback win at singles, and in the longest match of the day Beka Lematua/Lizzie Sutherland had an exciting comeback win at doubles, winning the match in a third set tiebreaker 11-9.

A split for the week left the Pirates with an overall record of 8-5 going into the last week of the regular season.

The team hopes to improve its record with an away match on Monday at Cascade Christian after press time and the final regular season match at home against Granite Falls on Thursday. The Pirates will then host the Nisqually League tournament on the following Thursday, May 12.

— Pat Mulvihill is the assistant coach of the VHS girls’ tennis team.