Last season, then-freshman Tayler Conway showed her tennis prowess, winning a league and district title in just her first season at Liberty High School.
Conway went all the way to the 3A WIAA State Tournament final match against Amina Avdic for the second championship match against Avdic that season. Conway fell in straight sets (6-0, 7-6, 8-6) down in Vancouver to Avdic to take second place in the state tournament.
This year Conway has her eyes set on the state championship. She had already won her second KingCo title in as many years.
“It gave me some perspective from last year. I was a little more prepared for what to expect this year. I was still nervous coming into this year. I was shaking the entire time despite it being an easy match,” Conway said.
Conway made pretty easy work of her competition in the District 2 Tournament, winning her quarterfinal match 6-0, 6-0. In the semifinal match, Conway won 6-1, 6-1, cruising to the championship match against Caitlyn Ying from Mercer Island.
In the first set Conway was competing against Ying, the two would have seven-eight hit rallies between the two of them. But Ying was just on another level. She forced Conway to play as the aggressor and Conway just made a couple too many mistakes and dropped the first set 6-4.
“It’s a learning experience,” Conway said after the match. “I’m just trying to make the most of it, obviously it sucks to lose. But in the grand scheme of things it was just one match.”
The second set was more of the same for Conway. Ying just didn’t make many mistakes, and rarely if at all would Ying make back-to-back mistakes. Ying won set two 6-2 over Conway, and Ying sealed her district title.
“I think I tried to make the most of what I had today. She played great tennis. There wasn’t much I could do with what I had today,” said Conway.
Conway was given the No. 8 seed in the state tournament, and Ying was given the three seed. A year ago, state champion Avdic was the exact same seed Conway is this season after losing the district title.
“I’m just trying to focus on my matches and try to keep everything fun. That is the point of high school tennis for me,” Conway said.
In the first round on May 23 at the Vancouver Tennis Center, Conway takes on Madison Orr from University, who is the ninth seed.
