The final tournament of the season for Vashon boys tennis took place last Thursday and Friday at the Lakewood Racquet Club. Vashon had a somewhat daunting task due to some unfortunate seeding, which had them facing first or second seeds in the first round.

Thursday morning was a rough start for the Pirates; the first doubles team of Preston Peterson and Brett Beardsley was forced to default with a sick player. The second team of Tristan Krajeovic and Payton Lieske lost their first match but were not eliminated from the double-elimination tourney.

At first singles, Steen Jennings lost a very tough first-round match in three close sets to the number-two ranked player in the tournament, but he was not eliminated. Both teams were still alive in the losers’ bracket. Josh Tillman ,playing at second singles, also lost a hard-fought three-set match which, unfortunately, was a loser-out match.

On Friday, Vashon had only its second doubles and first singles left in the tournament. Both Vashon entries immediately began to have better results, working their way through the losers bracket. The doubles team was eventually stopped in three sets by a good Klahowya team. The Pirate duo finished fifth for the tournament.

In singles, Jennings worked his way through the entire losers’ bracket with some long, hard matches and finished the day winning the losers’ bracket and in third place overall. The third-place finish is at least good for the alternate position to the state tournament in the spring and will possibly qualify for a direct transfer, depending on how many slots District 3 is allotted.

Despite a tough start to the tournament, the Pirates played well throughout, and their comeback the second day was an impressive achievement to build on and a great way to end a successful season.

— Pat Mulvihill is the boys tennis coach.