There have been many siblings that have achieved athletic success over the years at Mount Si High School, mostly in football, but some in other sports as well.

Well, you can add another pair to that list: the Boals sisters. And although the district tournament was the last time you could have seen them together as Wildcats – Christina is a senior, Jaclyn is a sophomore – this sister act has led a resurgence in popularity for the girls’ tennis team among students at Mount Si, one that hopefully will enable the program to compete with the best in KingCo 3A in the future.

This tandem were the lone Mount Si players to make it to the district tournament.

“We did pretty well, better than we expected.” Christina said. “We got pretty far. Unfortunately we didn’t make it to state … [But] we had fun.”

The sisters were introduced to the sport only a few years ago, with Christina saying, “Our mom actually started with tennis a few years ago and had us take lessons.”

In addition to their high-school play this past season, they have competed on a recreational basis. It is troublesome, though, finding good competition among their age group locally.

Christina said, “We’ve been playing mostly with adults in the past few years since we didn’t know many students or younger kids that played tennis up here. Either we played adults up in the Valley or we went down to Bellevue to Robinswood Tennis Center.”

As for the experience playing doubles together, Jaclyn said it “was a lot of fun.”

Next year, the two will split up, with Jaclyn becoming a Mount Si junior and Christina a college freshman. Christina expects to spend her first year at the University of Washington playing tennis – but not competitively, instead “playing for recreational purposes, like intramural.”

However, she may have other plans in store down the road. “I don’t know if I’ll try out [for the UW team] sophomore year or not, though.” she said.

Jaclyn said she plans on playing tennis for Mount Si next year, possibly singles.

As for the resurgence in popularity of the sport at Mount Si, about 30 to 40 girls turned out for the tennis team this past season, which was coached by Sue Gallacher. Mount Si Athletic Director Greg Hart said “interest has grown.”