Our Vashon High School (VHS) Pirates have had another winning season in tennis, with nine wins and 4 losses, placing third in the standings out of eight schools.
The league-qualifying tournament for district inclusion was played on Oct. 26 and 27 at the Jupiter Tennis Center in Milton. The six entrants were Nick Zuckerman (S1), Moses Trundle-Strachan (S2), Hatcher Freda and Danny Baldinger (D1), and Finn Hawkins and Charlie Walker (D2).
Players were placed in four pools of four players who played each other to determine the top two who would advance to the district tournament. Zuckerman’s pool turned out to be quite strong and he missed the cut by a narrow margin. The rest of the VHS players advanced.
The district championships took place on Nov. 3 and 4, in the UPS Tennis Pavilion, in Tacoma.
The same “pools” methodology was employed and worked rather well, as it seemed to mirror the regular league play results for singles. Senior Moses Trundle-Strachan had protracted matches and was competitive, but managed a single victory and finished in seventh place. The doubles results were another story. The two #1 seeded teams (LCA and VHS) were upset early.
The VHS team of Freda and Baldinger fell off form at an unfortunate time and finished eighth.
Finishing number one over the field were Finn Hawkins, a junior, and Charlie Walker, a sophomore, who went undefeated. The championship match was the first one where the pair lost a set 5-7 to the Annie Wright team of Jack Bryant and Wilson Dicks.
They dominated the second set to win it 6-1.
The third set is played as a ten-point tiebreaker with the winning team being first to 10, by two points. That is exactly what happened. It was a see-saw affair with one pair going ahead and then the other. The winning score was 10/8 Vashon High School, by Hawkins and Walker, who will go to State in May.
Big thanks goes out to our assistant coach, Todd Zimberg, for the team’s accomplishments this season. Go Pirates!
Rick Doussett is the head coach of the VHS boys’ tennis team.
