3A TENNIS: Titans serving up good start

Christina Le is one of three Union players in the Class 3A state semifinals, and could face teammate Victoria Tam today for the state championship. (Vivian Johnson/For The Columbian)

Union’s tennis teams thought they were positioned to see at least one of their members take home a state championship this weekend.

But Friday’s opening rounds of the 3A Boys and Girls State Tennis Championships at the Vancouver Tennis Center positioned the Titans for perhaps an even stronger run. Two of the four semifinalists in the girls’ singles are from Union, setting up the possibility of an all-Titans final and Union in position to challenge for the team title.

Three Titans will compete in this morning’s semifinal round, Christina Le and Victoria Tam in the girls bracket, and Alex Wallace for the boys.

"I’m looking forward to hopefully playing Christina in the final," Tam said of her teammate, who defeated Tam in the bi-district final a week earlier. "It’ll be nice to have two from Union."

While Tam is a freshman, this will be Le’s third consecutive appearance in the state semifinals — in 4A for Evergreen in 2007 then in 3A during Union’s initial season last year — and she dropped only one game while extending that streak.

Le topped Catherine Jorgensen of Glacier Peak 6-0, 6-1 in her first match, then rolled past Rachel Storz of Holy Names 6-0, 6-0 to reach the semis.

Her only stumble was a double-fault that cost her the one game she lost against Jorgensen. In past tournaments, she said, that type of mistake could lead her fall back on a more conservative game plan, which she believes cost her a shot at last year’s state title. But this time a short mental pep talk turned the momentum back in her favor the rest of the day.

"After that, I was like, ‘OK, I’ve just got to get focused and play in the moment,’ " Le said. "I was being more aggressive. I just have to get out of my shell, play my own game."

But while Le is a mainstay, Union’s strong performance was boosted by two freshmen making their state tournament debuts.

Tam reached today’s semifinal with a 6-5, 5-7, 6-1 victory over Grace Porter of Bainbridge Island — though like Le, she also needed a mental check-up midway through her match. Leading 5-4 in the second set and holding match point, Tam let the game slip away and the next two as well to lose the set.

With her focus momentarily scattered, Tam said she spent the time before the final set pushing that breakdown out of her mind before storming to the victory.

"I just went for too much," Tam said of the second set. "Before the third set, I just had to forget everything."

Alex Wallace also reached the semifinals of the boys’ tournament on his first try with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Bellevue senior Kevin Kosanke, and will next face last year’s state runner-up, senior Lance Wilhelm of Peninsula.

It will be a rematch of their bi-district match, which Wilhelm won 7-6, 4-6, 6-2.

But that meeting also gave Wallace confidence that he could make the corrections to turn today’s rematch in his favor.

"We had a really good match," Wallace said. "There were a few points I could’ve won that may have changed it, but that’s tennis. I think it’ll be another tough match."