ARLINGTON With Andrea Parlin resting her sore shoulder, Megan Graham took on the role of No. 1 singles player for Arlington girls tennis team.
The April 23 match with Everett went to the Everett team, but Arlington produced a number of impressive individual results.
Graham herself battled with Everetts No. 1 singles player Julie Mills and after losing the first set handily, turned the momentum of the match in the second set. Despite facing set point for Mills on two occasions, Graham continued to hit low winners and eventually forced a tie-break. In the tie-break, Graham made some uncustomary errors which cost her the match, but the groundwork for future success against Mills appears to be in place
The first set was bad. I did okay in the second set, but Im still missing some shots, said Graham.
Graham will likely see Mills again in the first round of the district playoffs.
Coach Sean Cunningham assessed the match.
Both Megan and No. 2 singles Colleen McElroy have beautiful strokes. They both need to cut down on mental errors. If they play within themselves they can compete with anybody.
In the No. 2 singles match, McElroy hit a number of impressive winners, but could not stay consistent enough to knock off Everetts Mallory Good.
I played better than I thought I would. She just had a little more confidence, a little more experience.
The big story of the day came from No. 3 doubles where a pair of sophomores, Lauren Kelly and Kelly Hamilton, lit up their Everett counterparts. Hamilton and Kelly had previously been undefeated on the JV circuit, but only recently received the call up to varsity. Hamilton and Kelly used an array of consistent shots along with an aggressive net game to wear down their opponents.
Coach Sean Cunningham believes strongly in his talented young duo.
They work very well as a team, they communicate better than any group we have. I am extremely pleased with their performance.
Despite their early success, the pair still have their reservations.
Lauren Kelly laughed about it.
I still get kind of nervous. The girls up here at varsity place the ball much better than at the JV level.
Hamilton agreed.
Its much harder up on varsity. Even though we did well on JV were still learning.
They apparently learn quickly considering they have won both their varsity matches together.
Top doubles tandem Morgan Galusha and Bridgette Burkholder again showed why theyre going to be a force at districts. The pair won 6-2, 6-2 over a clearly overmatched Everett twosome of Lily Esamilla and Nicole Dominique.
Galusha relished the victory.
We did not play our best, probably due to fatigue. We had prom this week and we were both feeling pretty tired. But we minimized our errors and Bridgette hit some aces.
In No. 2 doubles, Krista Sparks and Missy Vienhage fought to a third set, but could not outlast Everetts Shavaun Tegman and Mya Nguyen. It is likely that Sparks and Vienhage will be the fourth seed in the upcoming regionals and will face the No. 1 seed from the southern half of the conference.