Coupeville Sports

Julia Myers takes an overhead. (John Fisken photos)

Allie Hanigan moves in for a shot Wednesday.

Whether it’s a blow-out win or a squeaker, the Coupeville High School girls’ tennis team has Friday Harbor’s number this season.

Sweeping the singles matches while shuffling their lineup Wednesday, the Wolves slipped past the visitors 3-2 to take the season series and raise their record to 6-3.

In previous seasons, Coupeville and Friday Harbor comprised a two team league, and played each other three times for the title.

With South Whidbey dropping back to 1A this season and other Cascade Conference schools such as Archbishop Thomas Murphy and Lakewood finally entering the tennis world, that changed for Coupeville, but its dominance in the rivalry hasn’t. The Wolves opened the season with a 5-0 bagel job of the Wolverines.

Wednesday was much closer, as CHS coach Ken Stange began to tinker with his lineup in anticipation of the postseason.

Number one singles player Amanda d’Almeida has moved back to doubles, where she dominated in years past, with Allie Hanigan sliding up to first singles and Emily Gallahar inheriting the open slot.

“Allie and Emily were very dominant today in singles,” Stange said. “Amanda and Iris (Ryckaert) teamed up for the first time and played well.

“They were able to work on certain elements of their doubles strategy in the second set,” he added. “Hopefully, they will be able to make a run at districts and advance to the next level.”

Complete results:

Varsity:

1st Singles — Allie Hanigan beat Sophie Dillery 6-0, 6-1

2nd Singles — Emily Gallahar beat Katrina Wakeman 6-0, 6-1

1st Doubles — Amanda d’Almeida/Iris Ryckaert beat Roxanne Bormann/Ashton Timmons 6-0, 6-2

2nd Doubles — Holly Craggs/Julia Myers lost to Maddy Marinkovich/Meagan Anderson 6-4, 6-0

3rd Doubles — McKenzie Bailey/Sydney Autio lost to Kendall Calvert/Marina Leduc 6-3, 6-3

JV:

4th Doubles — Ana Luvera/Ivy Luvera won 6-4

5th Doubles — Jacki Ginnings/Micky LeVine won 6-4

6th Doubles — Samantha Martin/Mary Massengale won 6-2

7th Doubles — Wynter Thorne/Faith Shinn won 6-0

8th Doubles — Julianne Sem/McKenzie Rice lost 6-2

9th Doubles — Joye Jackson/Haleigh Deasy lost 6-2

10th Doubles — Julia Jones/Samantha Thomson lost 6-0

11th Doubles — Miranda Kortuem/Breanna Koym won 7-6(7-2)

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Jacki Ginnings doin’ what she does. (John Fisken photo)

If your name was Jacki Ginnings, Tuesday was a pretty great day to play tennis.

If it wasn’t, maybe not so much.

Playing the best team in all the land, South Whidbey, the Coupeville High School girls’ tennis team didn’t have many bright moments to write home about.

Routed 5-0 at the varsity level (dropping their record to a still pretty spiffy 5-3) by the highly-pedigreed Falcons, the Wolves had to look to the JV level for their only wins of the day.

Both of those came courtesy of Ginnings, who teamed with first Micky LeVine, and then Mary Massengale, to win both of her matches.

Her stellar play, and the never-say-die duo of Ana and Ivy Luvera, who fought through three tough sets in their varsity doubles match, were the best of a rough afternoon.

Coupeville will get a chance to bounce right back, however, with Friday Harbor coming to Whidbey Wednesday for the second match of the season between the two squads. The Wolves won 5-0 in the season opener.

Complete results:

Varsity:

1st Singles — Allie Hanigan lost to Hayley Newman 6-0, 6-1

2nd Singles — Iris Ryckaert lost to Carlie Newman 6-0, 6-0

1st Doubes — Holly Craggs/Julia Myers lost to Tess Radisch/Amelia Weeks 6-0, 6-0

2nd Doubles — McKenzie Bailey/Sydney Autio lost to Isla Dubendorf/Hannah Calderwood 6-0, 6-1

3rd Doubles — Ana Luvera/Ivy Luvera lost to Katherine Read/Sophia Pisana 6-7(5-7), 6-4, 6-2

JV:

4th Doubles — Jacki Ginnings/Mickey LeVine beat Taylor Kessler/Shady Moody 8-4

5th Doubles — Emily Gallahar/Maureen Rice lost to Jenn Leroy/Lucy Clements 9-8(7-4)

6th Doubles — Faith Shinn/Wynter Thorne lost to Gabrielle Ceposki/Anna Justus 7-5

7th Doubles — Mary Massengale/Jacki Ginnings beat Roslyn Schoeler/Xiao Wu 8-4

8th Doubles — Joye Jackson/Haleigh Deasy lost to Taylor Kessler/Lucy Clements 8-3

9th Doubles — Samantha Thomson/Julia Jones lost to Jenn Leroy/Eden McGarry 6-0

10th Doubles — McKenzie Rice/Julianne Sem lost to Eden McGarry/Shady Moody 8-1

11th Doubles — Anna King/Miranda Kortuem lost to Gabrielle Cepowski/Anna Justus 6-2

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     McKenzie Bailey (left) and Sydney Autio claimed a key doubles win in Autio’s varsity debut.

       Breanna Koym, seen here in an earlier season match, played second varsity doubles Tuesday. (John Fisken photo)

The Wolf netters went a long way to get back that winning feeling.

Returning from Spring Break renewed and re-energized, the Coupeville High School girls’ tennis team bounced host Granite Falls 5-2 Tuesday to snap a two-match skid and raise its record to a very-shiny 5-2.

The win was a nice return to form after the Wolves lost their last two matches before the break to traditional tennis powers South Whidbey and Blaine.

“It was a fun match for us,” said Wolf coach Ken Stange. “I had no idea what to expect from Granite this season. They have been tough on us over the past few years.”

Since Granite Falls is a 2A school, they play seven varsity matches instead of Coupeville’s normal five, which gave Stange a chance to get more girls on to the big stage and mix up a few doubles tandems.

“I decided to break up some doubles teams to give us a chance at singles,” Stange said. “The girls delivered!

“Amanda (d’Almeida) was her usual self, playing consistent tennis and covering lots of court. She found ways to get to the net and end points, but for the most part Amanda outlasted her opponent,” he added. “Both Allie (Hanigan) and Iris (Ryckaert) got off to fast starts in their singles matches. They both also put their opponents away with ease.”

It was Ryckaert’s first match as a singles player after working with Holly Craggs as a doubles player during the first half of the season, and she shone.

“It was great to get Iris out on the singles court because she has fabulous technique on both sides,” Stange said.

Equally outstanding was Emily Gallahar, another doubles player who jumped up and won a key singles match.

“Emily gave me the biggest surprise. Today she shined,” Stange said. “This was far and away the best match Emily has ever played. I am very proud of her effort.”

While sweeping the four singles matches iced things, the Wolves also added a win at third doubles from the dangerous duo of the future — McKenzie Bailey and Sydney Autio — in which Autio made her varsity debut.

Complete results:

Varsity:

1st Singles — Amanda d’Almeida beat Rachel Mow 6-2, 6-3

2nd Singles — Allie Hanigan beat Brittany Young 6-2, 6-0

3rd Singles — Iris Ryckaert beat Sherra Murdoch 6-2, 6-1

4th Singles — Emily Gallahar beat Laura Gilbertson 6-4, 6-1

1st Doubles — Holly Craggs/Julia Myers lost to Hailey Arndt/Katelyn Gresli 7-6(9-7), 6-2

2nd Doubles — Breanna Koym/Maureen Rice lost to Cassie Hart/Annie Hart 6-1, 7-5

3rd Doubles — McKenzie Bailey/Sydney Autio beat Brianna Cervarich/McKenzie Meyer 6-2, 6-3

JV:

4th Doubles — Ana Luvera/Ivy Luvera beat Brittany Lindell/Katy Phillips 8-5

5th Doubles — Micky LeVine/Jacki Ginnings beat Danielle Coleman/Nia Klinnert 8-1

“Micky played with a broken pinkie on her hand,” Stange said. “I’ve done that before … not easy … quite painful.”

6th Doubles — Mary Massengale/Samantha Martin won 8-2

7th Doubles — Wynter Thorne/Faith Shinn lost to Kenna Todd/Brittany Young 8-2

8th Doubles — Joye Jackson/Haleigh Deasy lost to Brittany Lindell/Katy Phillips 8-4

9th Doubles — Julianne Sem/McKenzie Rice lost to Annie Hart/Cassie Hart 8-0

10th Doubles — Julia Jones/Samantha Thomson lost to Brianna Cervarich/McKenzie Meyer 8-0

11th Doubles — Miranda Kortuem/Sydney Autio lost to Danielle Coleman/Nia Klinnert 6-2

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