By Tim Clinton
Snatching up a seventh place finish in state Class 3A girls tennis is nothing to sneeze at.
Just ask longtime Thomas Jefferson High School head coach Andrew Buchan, whose doubles team of Mia Morgan and his niece Caley Buchan took the seventh place medal this past weekend.
"Just getting to state was huge," he said. "Class 3A is so hard. Mercer Island and Seattle Prep, they're crazy good."
Consider that the Raider seniors were the only girls from not just the Federal Way School District but the entire North Puget Sound League -- Class 3A or 4A -- to make state this year.
"We won state in 2019, then we're just reeling from Covid," coach Buchan said. "Our league was hit harder than most."
It was a matter of economics.
Players from richer areas and schools like Mercer Island and the private schools were able to keep playing tennis on their own during the peak of the pandemic.
"Our schools did not have access to tennis," coach Buchan said. "This was step one (back), to medal at state. It was amazing. Their goal was to medal."
The TJ duo drew Shorewood to open the tournament and outlasted that team in three sets, 2-1.
"The first round was loser out," pointed out coach Buchan. "We got a good draw."
The Raiders were dealt a 2-0 loss by Holy Names of Seattle in their next match, but they rebounded to beat Gig Harbor, 2-0, to reach the match for fourth and seventh place.
"We got a team we had seen at districts," coach Buchan said. "We beat them in three sets there. This time we handled them pretty well."
The scores in the two sets were 6-2 and 6-3.
Thomas Jefferson fell by a 2-0 score to Lakeside to wind up seventh after that.
Next up for Caley Buchan is to play tennis for Highline Community College, while Morgan is off to Seattle University and most likely will not get to play there.
"She'd like to," coach Buchan said. "But Seattle University is Division 1, and Division 1 is tough."
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