While short on numbers, the Mountlake Terrace High School girls tennis team will be strong in experience this spring as the squad returns its top three players from 2013.

Juniors Nikki Bouche and Allison Lorraine, and sophomore Tina Liu are expected to battle it out for the #1 singles position on the Hawk squad this year. All three competed in the spot at times last season.

All three Hawks saw some success in the season-ending 3A South Division tournament last May. Competing as a doubles team, Bouche and Liu were tourney runner-ups, moved on to the district championships and eventually qualified for the 3A state tournament, where they finished in eighth place; Lorraine survived first-day competition at the South Division tourney, only to be knocked out on the second day.

While Hawk Coach Alberto Ramirez is all smiles about his top three returnees, he notes he is disappointed with the overall turnout for the tennis program. “We didn’t have enough girls come out, so we won’t be having a JV team this year,” he said.

Terrace has a full slate of competition during its first week of the season; the squad hosts Lake Stevens on Tuesday, March 18, before hitting the road for away matches on Wednesday and Friday, March 19 and 21. All Hawk tennis matches begin at 3:30 p.m.

You can view the entire MTHS girls tennis team schedule for 2014 here.

–– Story and photo by Doug Petrowski