Wildcat tennis closes out regular season

The Mount Si High School girls tennis team faced a couple of tough opponents last week.

The Wildcats went to Issaquah last Tuesday, April 22, and were swept by the Eagles in all nine matches. Mount Si had a solid effort from Mariana Zanella in both singles and doubles, as she made Ariel Nagen of Issaquah put in work to pick up a victory against the Wildcat senior. The score was 6-2, 6-3 in favor of Nagen. Zanella teamed up with Kelsey Wise to play a great three-set match with Issaquah’s Nagen and Selena Lustig. The Eagles won that match 6-2, 5-7, 6-3.

Vivian Yang also put up a tough effort in singles, but her Issaquah opponent, Mary Brummett, pulled it out 7-5, 6-1.

The Wildcats came home last Thursday, April 24, for Senior Day, putting up a quality effort against a good Bellevue team. The Wolverines took six of nine matches. Mount Si victories were recorded by Kelcey Simpson in singles, 6-3, 6-4 over Bellevue’s Claire Ghan; Yang in singles, in a tight three set affair 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 over the Wolverines’ Becca Manning; and Georgia Reynolds and Victoria Falcon in doubles, in another great three-set battle 4-6, 7-6, 6-4 over Bellevue’s Tiffany Pham and Ashley Pryde.

The feature match between Zanella and Bellevue star Nikole Novikova was all Novikova, as she won 6-0, 6-1. Novikova, who was stellar as a freshman, took last season off to compete in national events, but decided to return this year.

Mount Si coach Sue Gallacher was impressed with the Bellevue junior.

“Novikova has always had a very ‘mature’ game, but it appears she grown up off the court some as well,” Gallacher commented by e-mail to the Valley Record. “That was nice to see.”

Gallacher also had some positive things to say about her players.

“I can’t tell you how proud I am of these kids,” she said. “What could have been a very challenging season has just turned into a very nice surprise for me. Their effort has been outstanding, both at practice and during matches. I really attribute that to the seniors [Mariana, Kelsey, Kelcey and Vivian] on this team. They’ve been wonderful.”

The postseason is now next on the calendar for the Wildcats, and it is not clear yet who will be representing Mount Si in those events.

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