Coupeville Sports

Your District 1/2/4 girls’ tennis champs hail from Coupeville. (Photo courtesy Nicole Strelow)

They’re the net queens of three districts.

Sparked by a singles title from Helen Strelow and a 2nd place performance from the doubles duo of Vivian Farris and Hayley Fiedler, the Coupeville High School girls’ tennis squad stood tall Friday in Seattle.

Holding off league rival Friday Harbor as well as Three Rivers Christian of Longview, the Wolves captured some hardware, bringing home the District 1/2/4 team title.

Now, Strelow and coach Ken Stange are off to the 1B/2B state tourney, which goes down May 26-27 at the Yakima Tennis Club.

For the Wolf net guru, who announced his retirement recently, it will be his sixth trip to the big dance since taking over the CHS tennis programs in 2005.

Strelow, a senior who twice ran at the state cross country meet, will be joined by Friday Harbor’s Megan Mellinger and Kira Clark, who pulled out a three-set win to capture the doubles crown.

Tri-District action went down at the swanky Amy Yee Tennis Center, with each school sending two singles players and two doubles teams.

The tourney was a single-elimination event, with the top seeds (Strelow and Farris/Fiedler) given a first-round bye.

To win her singles title, Strelow faced off with a pair of new rivals, fending off players from Three Rivers Christian to run her season record to 10-1.

Her only loss this spring was to a rival from 3A Mount Vernon in a match added to the schedule at the last moment.

Farris and Fiedler, who split a pair of sets before being edged 12-10 in an epic third-set tiebreaker in the doubles championship, finished 7-4 on the season.

Five of Coupeville’s six players at Tri-Districts depart after this season, with foreign exchange student Djina Radenovic joining seniors Lucy Tenore, Farris, Fiedler, and Strelow.

Junior Skylar Parker, who teamed with Tenore to capture a first-round win Friday, can return.

Friday results:

Helen Strelow:

Beat Aurora Fortunati (Three Rivers Christian) 7-5, 4-6, 10-7
Beat Jenna Dennis (Three Rivers Christian) 6-4, 7-6(7-1)

Djina Radenovic:

Lost to Jenna Dennis (Three Rivers Christian) 6-2, 6-0

Hayley Fiedler/Vivian Farris:

Beat Ava Martin/Georgia Keune (Friday Harbor) 6-1, 6-3
Lost to Megan Mellinger/Kira Clark (Friday Harbor) 7-5, 4-6, 12-10

Lucy Tenore/Skylar Parker:

Beat Brynn Stephans/Gracie Cowan (Three Rivers Christian) 6-1, 6-2
Lost to Megan Mellinger/Kira Clark (Friday Harbor) 6-0, 6-2

Skylar Parker (left) and Lucy Tenore split a pair of matches while playing together for the final time. (Jackie Saia photo)