HERMISTON — Hermiston girls tennis is on the rise, and with two sophomores and two juniors making the Mid-Columbia Conference all-conference team, the next few years look very promising.

Sophomores and doubles partners Aspyn Inners and Cate Doherty were named to the second team, while juniors Mallory Caplinger and Grace Winebarger were named to the honorable mention team.

“It’s looking really good, that’s for sure,” Hermiston coach Jason Sivey said. “They are really competitive. They are out hitting all the time on their own. They are trying to make themselves better in the offseason.”

As a team, the Bulldogs finished 4-4 in conference play.

Inners and Doherty won the MCC 3A doubles title, then finished second at the 3A District 8 tournament to earn a trip to the state tournament.

“They don’t like to lose,” Sivey said. “They took fourth the year before at the MCC tournament and that wasn’t good enough for them. They set a goal to win it the next year, and they did it.”

During the MCC season, Inners and Doherty won all of their matches except the one against Hanford, which is a 4A school in the MCC.

Caplinger played singles most of the season, then paired with Winebarger for doubles.

“We started moving her into doubles and she played well with Grace,” Sivey said. “We kept her there for the MCC tournament. They lost to Cate and Aspyn in the MCC finals.”

At the District 8 tournament, Caplinger and Winebarger lost a match to a Walla Walla team that they had beaten at the MCC tournament and missed out on a spot to state.

“They went to state and watched to see what they need to do next year,” Sivey said. “They will play doubles next year. I tend to mix things up because we are struggling on the singles end.”

Hanford sophomore Lily Deng was named player of the year for the second year in a row, and Evan Woodward was named coach of the year as the Falcons ran the table during the regular season with an 8-0 record.

Player of the year — Lily Deng, so., Hanford.

Coach of the year — Evan Woodward, Hanford.

First team

Lily Deng, so., Hanford; Courtney Tran, sr., Southridge; Annie Tran, jr., Kamiakin; Nikki Reyes, jr., Hanford; Jojo Safranski, jr., Hanford; Kennedy Rose, jr., Kamiakin; Reese Clark, sr., Kamiakin.

Second team

Nicole Samaan, jr., Hanford; Le-Yi Wang, jr., Hanford; Angelina Reisch, sr., Chiawana; Aspyn Inners, so., Hermiston; Cate Doherty, so., Hermiston; Keegan Isenhower, sr., Walla Walla; Kaitlyn Flinders, sr., Walla Walla.

Honorable mention

Erin Guevara jr., Southridge; Kaylie Dawes, sr., Chiawana; Kaya Chang, sr., Richland; Hannah Slysz, sr., Richland; Grace Winebarger so., Hermiston; Mallory Caplinger, so., Hermiston.