Baseline To Conga Line, A Day To Remember -- Lakeside Savors Girls Tennis Championship

The longest day of the spring season for Hillary Nagy and Jill Kirkpatrick came Saturday. It began in Pullman, where Nagy and partner Betsy Schanno beat Kirkpatrick and her partner and sister, Julie Kirkpatrick, to win the Class AA state doubles tennis title.

It ended in Seattle, where Nagy and Jill Kirkpatrick returned for the Lakeside High School prom.

Nagy, who will attend the U.S. Naval Academy next year, and Jill Kirkpatrick made it back for their prom - Nagy by plane and Kirkpatrick by car - and stayed up until dawn.

"It was a fun day," said Nagy, who won the tournament's sportsmanship award with Schanno. "We felt a lot of pressure this year, like we needed to do it (win state) again. The match itself wasn't as exciting just because we've been playing Jill and Julie for so long. We tried to forget who they are."

Lakeside to be stocked

-- The Lions' tennis team will be stocked next year. Schanno, Julie Kirkpatrick and Hilary Stamm are sophomores.

The strength in doubles will help make up for a loss in singles.

Amber Caisse had been considering returning to Lakeside for her senior year. However, Lions Coach Frank Hartung said she probably would stay at Meadowdale. Caisse attended Lakeside her freshman and sophomore years and was the Lions' No. 1 singles player. She transferred to Meadowdale - the area in which she lives - for her junior year, and had applied to and been accepted by Lakeside for next year.

"Because we came out of a tough district, that prepares them for tough matches at state," Hartung said. "I had to think that Amber (who placed third) didn't have tough matches this year until state, and that was a big difference for her."

Tough trip

-- Lakeside's state doubles champions Jon Kirk and Jason Barnes played three postseason matches against Ballard's Quy Le and Chris Bjareborn. They split the league and district matches. Each match involved at least one tiebreaker.

Lakeside's boys could have won the state title had singles player Jamie Moss not defaulted his semifinal against Joel Black. Hartung said Moss "failed to find out what time his match started."

Moss was at the tournament site, but beyond earshot of the tournament desk. He did not hear his name called.

"I wish they had asked somebody where Moss was," Hartung said. "We didn't know they were looking for him. I thought they would give him a grace period."

The Lakeside boys lost by a point. They also had a rough trip home. The van they rented broke down in Eastern Washington. A broken fan belt stranded them in Vantage most of the day. They arrived in Seattle at 2 a.m.

Kirk is graduating, but Barnes and Moss will be juniors next season.