Coupeville Sports

Allie Hanigan delivers a graceful forehand. (John Fisken photos)

Numerous classmates showed up to support Coupeville’s #1 player.

Hanigan goes low for a backhand.

They found the end of the road, but not before a good, long run.

The last Coupeville High School girls’ tennis players standing saw their seasons end Friday with hard-fought losses at day two of the 1A District 1 tourney.

Senior singles sensation Allie Hanigan came within a match of playing for a chance to advance to tri-districts, falling 7-5, 7-6 on her home court to Abbie Steele of Nooksack Valley.

Hanigan placed fourth in her final go-round at districts.

“She had big leads in both sets but was unable to convert,” Coupeville coach Ken Stange said. “She had a heckuva year, though!”

Down the road in Langley, the duo of Jacki Ginnings and Wynter Thorne also claimed fourth, falling to a team from Blaine 6-3, 6-3 in a loser-out contest. The finish was far better than expected at the start of the tourney.

“They had a pretty impressive tourney, if you take into consideration the fact that they were the eighth-seeded team,” Stange said.

While the girl netters are done, Stange is still on the job, as Ben Etzell and Aaron Curtin qualified for state (May 29-31 in Yakima) as a doubles team back in the fall.

The duo may be doing double duty if CHS also makes it to Yakima (“the Palm Springs of Washington”) for the final four of the state baseball tournament.