But Hana and Lucy lose the next two sets, and Mikaela and Natasha lose in straight sets, giving Roosevelt the match. The Beavers drop their next match to Inglemoor 7-2, their worst loss of the season, to sink to 5-6. Yet the girls aren't disheartened. "I like how we all stayed and cheered," Flora says. "That didn't happen last year. Actually, this is the closest our team has ever been."
"It's still definitely cliquey, but I get along better with the girls," Hana agrees. "We all have a common, um, interest. We've bonded over it."
David Belisle
First-year head coach Aaron Silverberg (seated with flute) and the 2007 Beavers.
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the last week of the season, Silverberg sits the team down in a circle before practice and asks what they learned. "It doesn't have to be about tennis," he reminds them.
Even so, the girls offer pieces of tennis wisdom. "I learned to get low on my shots"; "I learned to control my volleys"; "Fast back, easy out"; "Dance!"
"I learned that I knew nothing about teenage girls and now I know even less," Silverberg says.
The girls laugh brightly. "I learned that our team is really funny when we're all together," Hana says, and the girls murmur in agreement.
"And I learned that getting really attached to winning really hurts and that getting close to you guys meant letting go of that," Silverberg says.
As the team gears up for practice, Silverberg grows reflective. "I probably pressed a little bit early in the season," he says. "We were doing really well, and I wanted to keep it going. It was important to me, but it wasn't important to them. This was their last chance to be kids, and they wanted to hold on to that."
Though the season didn't go as he planned, Silverberg harbors no bitterness. "I'm proud of them," he says. "They've gotten the max out of their high-school experience, by not only being good students but also by being good friends and challenging themselves. They were constantly trying to figure out how to have a rich life. Those girls are going places in life, even Neah. I have no clue whether she really respects me or appreciates what I've done this year, but she's a sharp girl and a damn fine competitor.
"I applaud the girls for putting relationship building first," he continues. "They taught me to rely on friendships and relationships, and to trust that over any kind of competition in life."
Those friendships, Silverberg would be happy to learn, have a way of encouraging personal growth. The night after the Beavers beat Juanita, Neah and Mikaela head to a Ballard boys' soccer game. On the way, Mikaela tells Neah that she has "an issue." "You're a complainer," Mikaela says. "You should work on that."
"That's not very nice," Neah replies. "It doesn't feel good to have someone point out your flaw and pick at it."
"Hey, I'm just telling you before someone else does."
"I don't think I complain any more than other people," Neah says of the exchange. "And they're about legitimate things. But I guess it's good to hear it from her."
The morning of her last high-school match, against league leader Redmond, Neah wakes up to blue skies and birds chirping and feeling excited to play. She spends the day at school recruiting students to come out and watch the match. "It's amazing," she says of her impending graduation. "I'm glad I'm getting out of here, but when you think about all the time you've invested into friendships, that only one or two will last...it's hard to think that we'll never be out here again with these girls."
The Beavers play well, but Redmond clinches a deceptively close 5-4 win by taking five of the six singles matches (only Hana wins) and capping an undefeated season before emptying the bench for doubles. Ballard finishes 6-7 for the year, 4-6 in the conference: the best season of the seniors' careers. When the final match wraps up, the team hangs around, chatting with friends and parents, gobbling up pizza ordered from Papa John's. The day before, Neah received an e-mail from Gonzaga, asking her to fill out a questionnaire that will help the school choose her freshman classes for her. "I'm like, I don't want to deal with this right now," she says. "But then I realized I don't ever want to deal with this! I just signed for $20,000 in student loans. That's on my account. I have no idea how to pay off a federal loan or balance a checkbook."
Neah takes a bite of Mikaela's pizza and laughs softly as she watches the sun sink below the tree line. "Ha," she says. "It'd better be fun."
hhsu@seattleweekly.com
