There probably aren’t many doubles players in the state who have faced anything like the first serve from Union’s Christina Le.
And probably not many more that could handle Le’s second serve, either.
Columbia River’s Julie Piboonvanggoon and Lauren Wetzel were the latest to attempt to tackle Le’s serve on Saturday in the doubles final at the Class 3A district tournament.
And the River pair didn’t have much luck in a 6-1, 6-0 loss to Le and Megan Carter.
“And don’t forget: Megan’s got a pretty tough serve, too,” Union coach Dave Heitsch said.
The teaming of Le and Carter in doubles this postseason is part strategy, part necessity. But whatever the reason, the tandem figures to be a big favorite at the 3A state tournament in Vancouver in two weeks.
“I’d have to think Christina and Megan would have to be one of the favorites at state,” Heitsch said. “I’m just basing that off what I’ve seen at state the past two years. Megan played with Helen Tam at state the last two years and finished fourth (2009) and sixth (2008).
“But this year, playing with Christina makes them that much stronger, and it helps put our team in a better position to score team points at state.”
Le has been one of the state’s top singles players the past three seasons. She has reached the singles semifinals all three years at state — in 2007 at 4A for Evergreen and in 2008-09 at 3A for Union.
But Le opted to play doubles during the postseason for her senior season to help her team and help herself, as well.
“I’ve been taking a lot of (Advanced Placement) courses at school, so I haven’t been able to focus on tennis as much this season,” said Le, who plans on taking her studies and tennis game to UC Davis next fall. “Also, I’ve been battling a (back) injury, so playing doubles takes a lot of stress off me. It’s nice having someone else out on the court to help you out.”
Nice for Le and Carter; not so nice for their opponents.
Piboonvanggoon and Wetzel raced through the bracket, dropping just two games in three matches on their way to the title match. Still, the Chieftains were no match for Le and Carter.
Even with Le playing doubles, the Titans are still not without a state-title contender in singles.
Sophomore Victoria Tam is primed for another deep run at state. Tam, who placed third at state last year as a freshman, raced through the singles bracket at the district tournament, winning four straight-set matches.
Tam captured the district title with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Christine Wang of Columbia River.
With the titles in singles and doubles, Union raced away with the district team title. Helen Tam took third in singles to advance to next week’s bi-district tournament in Tacoma.
The Camas doubles team of Madison Sumpter and Annike Schwartz also advanced to the bi-district tournament.
“It’s been a great season for us,” Heitsch said. “We went undefeated in league. We were undefeated in non-league matches and we won the Mountain View tournament.
“We won the bi-district tournament last year, and look to do that again this year. It seems like whenever we play, we win.”
