By Becky Walz,
“What’s up with the weather? It finally warms up and what do we get? 35 mph winds and 89 degrees. Players tried to adapt but it was tough,” pointed out Decorah girls’ tennis coach Larry Berland.
However, Decorah found what it took to pull out a slim 4-3 victory on the Independence courts Monday. Leading 4-2 after singles, Decorah only needed one victory in doubles to win the match. No. 2 and No. 3 doubles played well but just could not come up with a winning formula. Meanwhile, the No. 1 doubles team of Annalise Skrade and Mara Holland had fallen behind 0-5 in their eight-game pro-set.
“What’s up with the weather? It finally warms up and what do we get? 35 mph winds and 89 degrees. Players tried to adapt but it was tough,” pointed out Decorah girls’ tennis coach Larry Berland.
However, Decorah found what it took to pull out a slim 4-3 victory on the Independence courts Monday. Leading 4-2 after singles, Decorah only needed one victory in doubles to win the match. No. 2 and No. 3 doubles played well but just could not come up with a winning formula. Meanwhile, the No. 1 doubles team of Annalise Skrade and Mara Holland had fallen behind 0-5 in their eight-game pro-set.
“Things looked bleak for the Vikes until Annalise and Mara shifted their attack pattern causing their opponents to lose confidence in their game. Unable to come up with a suitable counter attack, Independence found themselves losing ground as the Vikings threw everything except the kitchen sink into winning hard-fought points. Annalise and Mara’s comeback was a great match winning victory for the team, but an even better lesson for the duo as they prepare for regional doubles,” added Coach Berland. “Assistant coach Reg Laursen has to be given all the credit for finding and pushing the right button that fired up the doubles team to a big win.”
“In singles, Allison Pavlovec was a true magician as she pulled big play after big play out of her hat to completely confuse her opponent. Allison does a really good job of finding her opponents’ weaknesses and exploits them to the fullest measure possible.
“Kristi Kjome-Johnson is the scrapper on the team. Kristi hates the thought of giving up any points and outworks her opponent, plain and simple. Kristi strives to get every ball back making whomever she is playing to have to hit it back one more time. Often, that one more time changes into five or six times and Kristi usually comes away with a victory when that occurs. Nadia Johnson played a super tight set with her Independence girl in singles. Both girls have to be happy with their play despite the windy conditions. As the match went on, Nadia became more and more assertive in where she hit the ball. Long rallies prevailed in the match but Nadia began winning the long rallies and that was all it wrote. Mara Holland was our only player who won both her singles and her doubles. She was the key player in winning the meet for the Vikes,” concluded Coach Berland.
Postseason under way
Decorah began the run to state with the singles and doubles tournament at Waverly-Shell Rock Wednesday, along with teams from Charles City, Clear Lake, Hampton-Dumont, Iowa Falls-Alden, Osage, Webster City, Fort Dodge and the host Go-Hawks.
The regional team tournament will be hosted by the Vikings Saturday, May 14, at Luther College courts. The Vikings will open the day versus Oelwein at 9 a.m.
Singles: No. 1 Mara Holland (Dec) won 8-4 over Shanna Kleve (Indee); No. 2 Kristi Kjome-Johnson (Dec) won 8-4 over Taryn Nolting (Indee); No. 3 Nadia Johnson (Dec) won 8-5 over Keely Post (Indee); No. 4 Evon Leitz (Dec) lost 4-8 to Brook Williamson (Indee); No. 5 Allison Pavlovec (Dec) won 8-1 over Addi Bailey (Indee); No. 6 Paige Lange (Dec) lost 3-8 to Marie Gorman (Indee)
Doubles: No. 1 Annalise Skrade/Holland (Dec) won 8-6 over Nolting/Post (Indee); No. 2 Johnson/Lange (Dec) lost 2-8 to Kleve/Gorman (Indee); No. 3 Leitz/Haley Gossman (Dec) lost 4-8 to Williamson/Bailey (Indee)
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