A rivalry was rekindled between the Juanita and Bothell High School girls tennis teams on Wednesday. The competitive contest came down to just a one-match victory for the Rebels, as the team from Kirkland squeaked out a 4-3 win.

“Many past contests between these teams have been long, intense, and have come down to one final match,” said Juanita coach Justin Ochsner. “And today was no different: It was a very close match until the very end.”

The competitive nature of the rivalry was clear from the start, as Rebel Grace Wang and Cougar Emily Yamauchi played their No. 1 singles first set to a tie breaker. Ultimately, Wang would take the match, 7-5, 6-2.

Juanita’s No. 2 and 3 singles players, Angela Lothian and Sheer Shalom, dominated their singles matches, giving JHS an early 3-0 overall match edge. Lothian defeated Becca Roll, 6-0, 6-2, while Shalom beat Jessica Sohn, 6-0, 6-0. Bothell won the No. 4 seed singles match by default.

The Cougars played well during the doubles matches, taking two-of-three. Cougars Rakshq Bohra and Allison Plummer won the No. 2 seed match, 7-5, 6-2, against Maggie Jiang and Karina Karmali. Sydney Lee and Megan Wang beat Rebels Shawdi Mehrvarzan and Emily Do, 6-2, 6-2 in the No. 3 doubles contest.

But it was Odsuren Enkhbaatar and Sara Subo in their No. 1 doubles debut that put the meet away for Juanita. The team defeated Amecha Singh and Sea-ein Lee of Bothell, 6-0, 6-3.

With the win, Juanita improves to 3-1.

“This is the strongest start in at least a decade for the JHS girls tennis team,” Ochsner said. “So far this season, the lady Rebs have dodged many raindrops and even some hurricane force winds, but they have proudly represented JHS with great play, and awesome attitudes.”