The top Arlington girls tennis duo of Morgan Galusha and Bridgette Burkholder landed back on their feet after last weeks loss in an impressive display of power and accuracy. They dominated Oak Harbors No. 1 doubles team of Stephenson and Nielon 6-0, 6-1 in a match played April 17.
Burkholders normally strong service game returned and forced Oak Harbor into a number of weak returns, many of which Galusha capitalized on, slamming them home for winners.
The match grew testy as Oak Harbors team consistently flubbed on keeping the correct score. Fortunately for Arlington, Oak Harbors miscalculations were not terribly harmful as the Eagles won quickly and easily.
After the match, Burkholder vented a bit of frustration about her opponents.
They were a little wrong about the score a couple of times. There were a few discrepancies. But we played aggressive and with more passion today than last week. We enjoy winning at home.
It was a timely return to form for the No. 1 doubles team because top singles player Andrea Parlin injured her shoulder midway through her match with Oak Harbors Christine Connelly and could not continue. The injury to Parlin looms ominously near the district playoffs and depending on her recovery time, could force a rearranging of the Arlington line-up.
Behind her in the line-up, No. 2 Megan Graham played extremely well and won her fifth match of the season. After falling 3-6 in the first set, Graham found her form against Oak Harbors Jennifer Jansen and took both the second and third set with relative ease, winning 6-3, 6-1.
Coach Sean Cunningham mixed his group around a bit for the match. Traditional No. 3 and No. 4 singles players Krista Sparks and Missy Vienhage converted over to a No. 2 doubles team and won easily in their match against Flores and Veltkamp. The match saw Sparks and Vienhage break through for the first time this year, a tribute to their hard work in practice.
Im trying to boost their confidence. Its important for them to have success. They are working very hard but not seeing the results in the singles game, said Cunningham
In their places, No. 3 singles Toni Brown lost 1-6, 4-6 to Alyssa Merriman.
At No. 4 singles, freshman Chelsea Boulton made her first varsity start and played admirably in a hard fought 3-6, 3-6 loss to Margaret Bezold. Boulton fought for over two hours before falling to Bezold. Given her youth, Boultons future looks exceptionally bright at Arlington.
On April 19 the team played Snohomish and lost 6-1 in overall match total. Andrea Parlin did not play due to injury. The doubles team of Morgan Galusha and Bridgette Burkholder did win to go 7-2 on the year. They pulled off a season sweep of the Snohomish girls.