The prep sports postseason is in full swing as the Mountlake Terrace girls soccer team is set to open district tourney play on Saturday. But for a pair of Terrace boys tennis team members, they must wait months to hear if their postseason will continue or not.

With a 7-4-1 regular season Wesco 3A record this year, the Terrace girls soccer team earned the No. 5 seed in the 3A District1 3A Girls Soccer Tournament and will face the No. 4 seed Ferndale on Saturday, Nov. 1, at Civic Stadium in Bellingham. First kick is scheduled for 5 p.m.

Ferndale placed third in the Northwest Conference this year with a league record of 9-2-1 and an overall record of 10-5-1. The Golden Eagles finished their regular season red hot, going 5-0-1 and outscoring their opponents 27-5 in their final six matches.

With a win over Ferndale on Saturday, the Hawks would travel to Arlington High School on Tuesday, Nov. 4, to face the winner of the Edmonds-Woodway — Meadowdale match. If the Hawks lose on Saturday, they would take on the loser of the Warriors — Mavericks match on Nov. 4 at Edmonds Stadium.

The top three finishers in the double-elimination district tourney qualify for the 3A Girls Soccer Tournament that begins the week of Nov. 10.

While the Terrace girls soccer team know what lies ahead of them, Hawks Jeremy Ansdell and Henry Brener will have to wait until March to see if their third place doubles finish at the 3A District 1 Boys Tennis Tournament gets them into the state tourney next spring.

Ansell and Brener defeated Scott Park and Kyle Berquist of Shorewood 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-4 on Tuesday to grab the third place podium spot in district doubles competition. But the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) doesn’t conduct its state tennis championships until the end of the spring prep sports season in late May. And the process of allocating entries into the spring sports championships isn’t concluded until a couple of weeks after the start of those spring sports, said WIAA Assistant Executive Director Andy Barnes.

While some schools (such as Mountlake Terrace) and athletic conferences (the Wesco, for example) have their boys tennis teams compete in the fall, the WIAA actually recognizes the tennis season as happening in the spring. “Tennis allocations have not been approved yet, and they won’t actually be done until the spring. That’s when the true tennis season is,” Barnes said. “Schools that participate in the fall season are utilizing the alternate season.”

The WIAA doesn’t set the official boys tennis state tournament allocations until they see the actually number of schools that participate in the sport, and that won’t be until after the spring season begins, Barnes said.

Waiting until next March to see if Ansdell and Brener are given a spot in the state tourney doesn’t sit well with MTHS tennis coach Alberto Ramirez. “This limbo situation is not fair for the boys,” he said. “Everyone should be able to know before the season starts how many teams will represent District 1 (at state). This wait and see is not a good situation.”

Ramirez believes the top two doubles teams at the district tourney, Cameron McDowell and Jack Bong of Shorewood and Tucker Davis and Ethan Jones of Glacier Peak, will be going to state; he is hoping the WIAA will also allocate a state berth for Ansdell and Brener.

“I am so proud of these two boys,” Ramirez said. “They worked so hard to improve during the season. Their success is a well-deserved reward for their time, effort and all those nights staying up late to do homework.”

The 3A Boys & Girls State Tennis Championships are scheduled to take place May 29-30, 2015 at Kamiakin High School and the Tri-City Court Club in Kennewick.

– By Doug Petrowski