Tournament seeds didn’t mean a thing to Coupeville’s Taniel Lamb and Mindy Horr.

Entering the 1A state tennis tournament in Yakima with the lowest possible ranking, the Wolf duo battled their way from the bottom of the bracket all the way to the top, coming up just a few strokes shy of a state title Saturday afternoon.

“I wasn’t sure how they’d come out with the pressure of being at state for the first time,” CHS head coach Cliff Horr said. “They did well, they did exactly what they needed to do.”

Facing off against the tournament’s top seed and fellow Quad-District opponent, Aimee Silver and Erica Lawrence of Bush Academy, Lamb and Horr played aggressive the entire championship match.

The CHS seniors pushed toward the net, winning volley after volley and took the first set 7-5.

After the first-set loss Silver and Lawrence continued to sit back and wait on Coupeville’s overhead slams and volleys, answering with hard ground strokes.

It was a surprise to coach Horr and the Wolfpack players.

“They never really became aggressive,” Mindy Horr said. “They just got to all our shots and we didn’t know what to do…that’s what you’re supposed to do in tennis is be aggressive and get to the net and you just lob, but they weren’t there.”

The decision to sit back paid off for the duo from Bush, as they won the second set 6-4 and the third set 6-3 on their way to the state title.

Initially upset with the loss, both CHS girls have become more pleased with what they accomplished after reflecting on it.

“At first we were a little disappointed because we thought we were capable of being state champs, but we’re pretty happy with it now,” Lamb said. “Thinking back we were just excited to go to state.”

Mindy Horr shared those sentiments.

“I’m happy with the way we played,” she said. “We played really aggressive, we played like we know how.”

The road to the championship match wasn’t an easy one Lamb and Horr, but they did their best to make it look simple in their two matches on Friday.

Going up against the tournament’s second highest seed in the first round, Mary Hutson and Molly Vanderwoude of Liberty Bell, Lamb and Horr seemed unfazed.

Trading break points with last year’s 1A runner up, Lamb and Horr held serve to 5-5, then broke and held to take the first set 7-5.

The Wolves’ duo continued to play at the net like they owned it, taking the second set 6-3 and the match.

“For me that was the match of the tournament,” coach Horr said.

Lamb and Horr faced Goldendale’s twosome of Tessa Conroy and Jessica Perez in the second round and continued their domination.

After falling behind 5-2, the Wolves battled back to force a tiebreaker at 6-6, which they eventually won 7-2. Lamb and Horr then cruised to a 6-0 victory in the second set to move on to the championship.

As the second place doubles team, Lamb and Horr also netted CHS an overall third place at the 1A state tournament.