Archbishop Murphy slipped out of Coupeville with a 3-2 win in tennis Tuesday, April 15.

“I’m not going to lie,” coach Ken Stange said. “It was a heart breaker. We had a shot, but came up a couple of points short.”

The Wildcats jumped to a 2-0 lead after winning the first two doubles matches, but the Wolves won the first set in the remaining three matches and were on path to pick up three team points.

However, Murphy’s Kitty Zhang recovered after losing to Jacki Ginnings in the first set of second singles to squeak out a 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 win to wrap up the match for the Wildcats.

Stange said Ginnings’ loss wasn’t from “lack of effort.”

“Jacki keeps improving, and she is gaining match toughness,” he added.

Coupeville collected exciting wins from Allie Hanigan in first singles (6-4, 4-6, 7-5) and Sydney Auto and Valen Trujillo in third doubles (6-7[3-7], 7-6[7-4], 10-8.

“Allie earned this win the hard way,” Stange said. “It took her over two hours to outlast her opponent. Even though the match was close, as I watched her play, it seemed that Allie was never not in control of the match.”

In regard to Autio and Trujillo, Stange said, “Sydney and Valen have energy and spirit in abundance, and they used all to claim the No. 3 doubles match. Sydney was downright ferocious in all phases of the game. Valen didn’t back down; she played the most consistent tennis of her short career.”

Samantha Martin and Sydney Aparicio fell in first doubles 6-2, 6-2; and Wynter Thorne and McKenzie Bailey lost in second doubles 6-4, 6-3.

Coupeville (1-2, 3-3) goes to Granite Falls (1-3, 1-5) at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, April 17.