Story and photo by Doug Petrowski

With a strong mix of youth and experience, the Mountlake Terrace High School girls tennis team is hoping to build on the success of last year’s squad that sent a doubles team to the state championships. “My goal is to try to get a singles and a doubles team to state,” said Coach Alberto Ramirez of the 2013 season.

Battling for the top singles’ spot on the team will be sophomore Nicki Bouche and freshman Tina Liu, a proposition that Ramirez likes. “The competition is going to help both players to stay focused on their game,” he explained. “Both players have club experience and they got to play some club tournaments during the off season.”

Ramirez is counting on seniors Nancy Nguyen and McKayla Floe to lead the team in both practices and competitions. “We have the talent in the team,” he said, “(it’s) just a matter of getting the players in the right frame of mind so they (can) work harder than they ever have.”

The Hawks won’t have long to wait to see if their preparations are paying off, as the squad opens the season with three matches this week. Terrace travels to Lake Stevens High School for a match-up with the 4A Vikings on Tuesday, then come home on Wednesday to face the Everett Seagulls. MTHS will finish the week on the road at Stanwood on Friday. All matches begin at 3:30 p.m.