SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. — Under beautiful blue, smokeless skies, the South Tahoe girls’ tennis team on Tuesday earned a narrow 11-7 victory over Hug on the Vikings home courts.

The Vikings were tied with Hug 3-3 through the first round of matches, then took a 7-5 lead going into the final round and pulled away a bit more to finish the match with their fourth straight victory to start the season.

“It could have gone either way,” said Vikings head coach Tracey Samoluk about going into the final round of matches. “It was a long day and a hard fight. This is a team effort and I am so proud of all the girls for being team players and supporting one another.”

Hug’s top singles player Aenessa Rylski was a thorn in the side of the Vikings, winning all three matches to earn nearly half her team’s points while surrendering just five games.

In the final round of matches, South Tahoe’s top singles player Kiara Vazquez and the No. 1 doubles team of Erin Yamaoka and Nora Stewart picked up wins leaving the Vikings searching for one more point to clinch.

Stella Devine clinched that point for the Vikings by rallying from behind to beat Hug’s No. 2 player 6-4.

“I am so proud of Stella for sticking with it and never giving up,” Samoluk said.

The doubles team of Danielle Ralston and Kyla Schrauben added a victory cushion by winning 6-1 against Hug’s top doubles team.

On Monday, Sept. 27 South Tahoe made up a match with Sparks that was postponed and came away with a 17-1 win.

The Vikings also handled Churchill County 13-5 on Sept. 23. The Greenwave defaulted in six matches.

Yamaoka and Stewart won a tiebreaker 12-9 and in the second round Soleil Weed and Lauren Romsos pulled out a victory by winning their tiebreaker 7-3.