The Highline women’s team plundered the PLU Vikings 6-3 last Saturday, giving Highline its first win of the season.
Highline was led by Mia Rosa, who beat PLU’s Taylor Stokes 7-5, 3-6, 1-0 at No. 1 singles. The T-Birds took four out of six singles matches, with victories by Selah Carlisle, Andrea Guiton, and Celeste Parker.
The Thunderbirds also took two out of three doubles matches, with Rosa and Parker overcoming Pacific Lutheran’s Stokes and Ella Burriss 8-4 at No. 1 doubles.
The victory followed in the season opener on Feb. 12.
“Our first match of the year was against a very solid and experienced NAIA four-year school, the College of Idaho,” said Highline Head Coach Laura Rosa. “The final score did not reflect how close the match actually was, in fact two of the points we lost made it to tie-breaks.
“As a group we are pretty young and inexperienced and that first match was all about getting nerves under control,” Rosa said. “One highlight was the win at No. 5 singles by returner and dual sport athlete Andrea Guiton. She has a ton of experience in tight competition as a high level soccer player and that really helped her to control the pace on her court.”
Against PLU, Rosa said the team “played much looser, which resulted in a big win for the team. No. 1 and No. 2 doubles both came out aggressive and dominated giving a 2-1 lead after the doubles round.
“Our No. 1 doubles team of sophomore D2 transfer Mia Rosa and freshman Celeste Parker should put pressure on all the teams they face this year,” she said.
Rosa said she has several goals for the team.
“First is grades. No exception,” she said. “We need to cancel practice to study? Cancel. We need to add a team study hall? We add it. We need to sit a player who isn’t showing up for class? We sit her.”
Team culture is another goal, the coach said.
Second is to make sure our players honor their sport and their team,” Rosa said. “We strive to create a culture where players will do things for teammates they wouldn’t even do for themselves. We don’t have a ton of rules, instead we set high expectations.
“And then third comes winning,” Rosa said. “If we commit to the first two priorities then the third will usually take care of itself.”
The Lady T-Birds travel to Oregon this weekend, with matches against Pacific on Friday, Willamette on Saturday and Lewis and Clark College on Sunday.
“From a coaching perspective this really should get them ready for conference play which begins in early March,” Coach Rosa said.
