Who's Better? Overlake Girls Or Boys Tennis Team?

REDMOND

Overlake School's boys team isn't the only strong tennis team on the 54-acre Redmond campus.

In fact, after a match at the school yesterday there was a dispute over which team is stronger, the boys team or the girls team.

Both are undefeated in Sea-Tac B League play. And after yesterday, the girls took a slight edge in play between the squads.

Shannon Ginn and Rachel Alenduff, Overlake's No. 1 girls doubles team, beat the Overlake boys doubles team of Greg Toledo and Chris Hagedorn 5-4 yesterday on one of the school's covered courts. The girls broke the boys' serve in the first game, then fell behind 1-4 before coming back to win four straight games and the one-set match.

"We're both comeback players," said freshman Alenduff, whose strategy was to let the boys' overconfidence work against them. "We knew when they were ahead 1-4 we could probably come back and beat them.

"We want to play Greg and Cam (Maples) so bad," she said, referring to Overlake's No. 1 boys doubles team.

"It's kind of fun. The girls beat the boys," Overlake girls coach Lynn Pierle said.

"That's as good as we'll see anywhere, I think."

For Pierle, the toughest part of her third-year coaching job is not winning league titles or sending players to state. It's finding strong enough competition to challenge her players.

Last year, the Owls finished 7-0 in league, 8-0 overall. The team earned one of the league's two Class A/B state singles berths and both of the league's doubles berths - then came away from state with nothing to show for it.

"I have been out beating the bushes trying to get some competition for the girls," Pierle said. "We realized when we went to state last year that the caliber at the state level is much tougher."

With four league matches to play, Overlake is 6-0, having won 29 of 30 individual matches. They're 7-1 overall. The one loss came against defending Class AAA state champion Mercer Island.

"It was a nice reality check for us because we had just beaten up on everyone in our league," Pierle said.

Left on Overlake's nonleague schedule are league rival Forest Ridge, Metro League power Seattle Prep and possibly Charles Wright Academy.

The quality of the team's nonleague schedule is one reason Pierle has for hope of a good showing at the state tournament in Spokane the last weekend in May.

Even more hope lies in such players as senior Ginn, Alenduff, Lake Washington transfer Carrie Brownstein, sophomore Christine Kelly and senior Linsey Collatz.

Collatz was Overlake's state singles representative last year. Kelly went to state in doubles.

Ginn went to state as a sophomore but didn't play last season because of a back injury. "She's back and healthy, and she's playing well," Pierle said.

"We're even stronger than we were last year," she said.

At least the strongest team in 54 acres.