PORT ORCHARD — The balls just didn’t fall in the right spots when they caromed off of the tennis racquets of the Vikings last week.

While a trio of tennis players from North Kitsap High School had the opportunity to show their skills at the Narrows League Tennis Tournament May 11 and 12 at South Kitsap High School, the team won’t be sending a representative to the West Central District Tournament this weekend.

Vikings players went a combined 1-4 at the Narrows League Tournament.

“This year was a rebuilding year for our program,” said coach Terry Grimm. “We have a lot of young players.”

It won’t get any easier in 2008, she said, referring to the opening of Kingston High School next year and the subsequent dip in NKHS’ available talent pool.

“It’s really disappointing that our team is going to be split up next year,” Grimm said. “It’s going to take our team and divide it in half. We have actually started a petition to try to keep our team together next season.”

Vikings No. 1 singles player Theresa Tucci — who Grimm said is a talented player who has unlimited potential — went 1-2 at the Narrows League Tournament.

“Theresa is a fighter out there. She just lacks a little bit of experience,” she said. “She’s going to be really good next year. When you watch her play you can tell she has a lot of determination and is highly competitive.”

The doubles duo of Brandy Meek and Darlene Dang came up empty at the Narrows League Tournament, losing to their first two foes on Friday.

“They weren’t used to playing with each other,” Grimm said. Usually Brandy and Megan Oost play doubles together, but Megan had to take an AP class exam that day.”

Even so, Grimm said she was impressed by Dang’s performance as a first-year high school varsity player.

“Darlene works so hard. She does a lot of work on her own outside of practice time,” she said. “She does the extra things she needs to do in order to improve.”