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Sunday, May 27, 2018

Shorewood tennis players represent the community at state tournament

Coach Arnie Moreno, Gunnar Thorstenson, Andrew Counter, Steven Lin
at state tennis tournament

Gunnar Thorstenson, Andrew Counter and Steven Lin traveled to Kennewick to play in the WIAA 3A State Tennis Tournament on May 25th and May 26th. Counter and Lin started the tournament early in the morning at 8:30am. They faced a tough tournament draw in Mercer Island. They lost a close 4-6, 5-7 match. Their next opponent also came from the Metro league in a doubles team from Seattle Prep. They lost another tough match 3-6, 6-7. Counter and Lin played extremely well against two top Seattle Metro tennis schools. Mercer Island and Seattle Prep went on to place in the top eight.

Gunnar Thorstenson
at state tennis tournament
Shorewood's Thorstenson came in to the tournament as last year's fourth placer in state and faced an opponent from Garfield high school. Thorstenson lost a close match but came back to win his next two matches versus Gig Harbor and Stadium. He faced an old foe from Capitol High School in his next medal match. He faced this opponent in last year's state tournament and lost a close match.

Thorstenson started the match with a convincing and impressive victory with a first set 6-3 win. The second set he found himself down 2-5. He was able to change the match momentum with a very effective powerful serve and volley game. He was able to get the match to a 6-6 tie and into a set tiebreaker. He lost the tiebreaker 4-7 to set up a third set that would decide the difference between 5 and 8th place.

The deciding third set was an action packed match featuring amazing shot making from both players. There were many momentum changes and leads. Thorstenson battled to a 5-4 lead and a chance to win the match on his serve. The Capitol opponent, to his credit, refused to give up and broke Thorstenson's serve and then held his serve for a 7-5 victory.

Senior Thorstenson ended his high school career as a three time state competitor and two time state placer, 4th in 2017 and 8th in 2018. Throughout the tournament, the Shorewood T-Birds played tennis at a high level and displayed great sportsmanship in wins and losses. The T-Birds tennis players were outstanding representatives of the Shorewood community.

--Arnie Moreno


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