Mercer Island girls tennis ready to get season going

Published 8:53 am Tuesday, April 17, 2012

It’s been sort of a slow start to the spring girls tennis season for Mercer Island. With just three weeks left in the season, the Islanders have played only three matches.

“We had later matches scheduled and a lot of rainouts,” said head coach Mindy Blakeslee. “We have a lot of matches in the next three weeks.”

The Islanders are 3-0 to start things off, but their toughest tests lie ahead.

“It’s a really good team,” said the coach. “We have three freshman on varsity and six freshman and two sophomores on JV doing swing between the two. On any other team they would be varsity, but we’re so deep. They are very good.”

It’s a much younger team this spring for the Islanders, with just two returning varsity seniors. Blakeslee also said it’s a slightly smaller team, with 12 girls instead of 15 like last year.

“Of those eight that are swinging, it just wasn’t a clear cut of who was varsity, and I couldn’t bring them all up,” said the coach.

This year’s team includes the No. 1 3A girls player in Nora Tan, along with freshman twins Gabby and Lydia Venditti.

“They are very athletic and have played tournament tennis for years,” said Blakeslee.

The Islanders played Newport on Monday, April 16, after Reporter deadline, one of the top 4A teams in the state. Newport also has one of the best individual players in senior Angela Chen.

On Tuesday, in another non-conference match, the Islanders took on Kamiak, the defending 4A state champions.

“They won the 4A title last year and I think they are returning everyone, so those will be tough matches,” said the coach.

Since the team will be playing as many as three matches a week for the rest of the season — weather permitting, of course — the team has been using its practice time to prepare.

“Any time we can work on doubles, that’s good,” said Blakeslee. “It’s not something a lot of them have a ton of experience with. Just more attacking in singles and getting our serving consistent. Of course, we’re also working on being good teammates and team building.”

Based on what Blakeslee has seen so far in matches, she’s happy with the way things are going.

“We played Bellarmine Prep and it was a good match. The No. 2 singles match went for a couple of hours. They were a good opponent for us,” she said.

The Islanders will host Seattle Prep on Wednesday, April 25 in another non-conference match, before traveling to Bainbridge on Thursday, April 26.

“We beat them by one point last year,” said Blakeslee.

It’s a good thing the team has been able to practice so much in the early season, before now it’s time to play.