By Becky Walz,
It was a convincing shutout Tuesday for the Decorah girls’ tennis team over Waverly-Shell Rock, 9-0.
Fresh from their conference championship on Saturday, the Vikes again asserted their control right from the first groundstroke. With the weather conditions much more conducive to good tennis play after Saturday’s wild weather, every Decorah varsity player won their singles and doubles matches.
“When you realize that Waverly is in our regional that will decide the players who will advance to state level competition in a couple of weeks it makes the victory even more satisfying. Seeing the girls play very solidly at the conference meet and now again in a dual meet against the Go Hawks, the road to receiving a seed in the regional tournament is becoming less hilly,” said Coach Larry Berland.
Kendra Bigler cruised in her first singles set (6-2) at No. 6 but then saw the match take a 180-degree turn with her losing the second set (2-6) to Elizabeth Frericks. Determined to not give into the pressure, Bigler circled the wagons and held for an exciting finish at 10-8 in the deciding 10-point tiebreaker.
Annalise Skrade and Mara Holland found themselves in a close match with their opponents but hit the after burners right when needed and in the end came away with a solid, straight set win at No. 2 doubles.
“The win carried a bit of consolation after they had lost to the same Waverly duo at the conference meet by one game and finishing with the silver instead of the gold. The girls are improving their doubles play and beginning to realize the value of ball placement over anything else if you hope to become a good doubles team. By comparing the doubles’ teams from their first match of the season to now there is no doubt that all three doubles teams have really improved. The huge step forward by all the players could not have happened without the dedication of assistant coaches, Miriam Skrade, Kristy Schilling, and Phil Yee,” said Coach Berland.
Singles: No. 1 Annalise Skrade (Dec) defeated Brooke Willis (W-SR) 6-1, 6-0; No. 2 Cady Peterson (Dec) defeated Ellie Meuendor (W-SR) 6-0, 6-4; No. 3 Morgan Brauer (Dec) defeated Grace Graede (W-SR) 6-3, 6-1; No. 4 Mara Holland (Dec) defeated Alexis Gielau (W-SR) 6-1, 6-1; No. 5 Kristi Kjome-Johnson (Dec) defeated Maddie Leary (W-SR) 6-1, 6-2; No. 6 Kendra Bigler (Dec) defeated Elizabeth Frericks (W-SR) 6-2, 2-6, 10-8
Doubles: No. 1 Peterson/Brauer (Dec) defeated Willis/Meuendor (W-SR) 6-2, 6-3; No. 2 Skrade/Holland (Dec) defeated Gaede/Frericks (W-SR) 6-4, 6-4; No. 3 Kjome-Johnson/Bigler (Dec) defeated Gielau/Hauber (W-SR) 6-2, 6-1
Submit A Comment
Fill out the form to submit a comment. All comments require approval by our staff before it is displayed on the website.