By Becky Walz,
Camryn Holland prepares to return the ball during Tuesday's match versus Waverly-Shell Rock in the No. 5 spot. (Driftless Multimedia photo by Becky Walz)
The Decorah girls tennis team battled to a 7-2 victory over Waverly Shell-Rock Tuesday, May 1, despite the Go-Hawks putting up a tremendous fight. The Vikes prevailed handling the consistency and powerful serves of their opponents, along with the challenge of high winds, with grit, focus, and determination.
In singles, at No. 1, Annalise Skrade made quick work of her opponent winning 6-1, 6-3. Evon Leitz, No. 2 singles, took her first set 6-1 and then illustrated her tenacity fighting back from a 1-4 deficit to ultimately win the match with a second set score of 7-5. At No. 3 singles, Haley Gossman’s was initially challenged by her opponent’s consistency, and even though she lost the first set 4-6, Gossman dominated the second set, winning 6-0, and closed out the match 10-3 in a third set super tie-breaker victory.
At No. 4 singles, Olivia Huinker proved her ability to play long rallies and stay mentally tough; after winning the first set 6-2, Huinker fell in the second 3-6. In the longest tie-breaker of the season, with rallies of 20-30 balls nearly every point, Huinker stayed strong, closing out a match victory with a 10-7 super tie-break win. Playing in the No. 4 slot, Camryn Holland’s consistent and quick moving opponent proved to be too much; Holland lost her much 2-6, 2-6. Another impressive display of mental toughness occurred at No. 6 singles; Klaara Short dominated the first set, winning 6-2, but then struggled with a major momentum change in the second set. However, Short didn’t let this keep her down, and she impressively battled back from a 0-5 deficit to win the match in a second set victory of 7-5. The Waverly Shell-Rock Go-Hawks came ready to battle, but the Vikes stepped up to the challenge and refused to go down on their home courts.
In doubles, the No. 1 duo of Annalise Skrade and Haley Gossman achieved a 6-1, 6-3 victory with their excellent net play and court coverage. At No. 2, Evon Leitz and Olivia Huinker, played a tight and challenging match but ultimately succumbed 4-6, 6-7 (0-7). At No. 3 doubles, Kaitlyn Bjork and Jaidyn Duvel did an excellent job of focusing on one game at a time and taking advantage of opportunities at the net; Bjork and Duvel won the first set 6-4; pushed hard in the second set after being down 1-4 to lose the set 4-6, but then won the match in a super tie-breaker (10-6).
Decorah JV had a busy night as well! Throughout the evening, the JV played a total of 22 matches against the Go-Hawks, and 15 of them resulted in Viking wins.
The Vikes will play their final duel match of the year at home Monday, May 8, against Independence. The Individual Regional Tournament will take place on Wednesday, May 10, at Luther College. Schools in the region besides Decorah are Aplington-Parkersburg, Charles City, Clear Lake, Dike New-Hartford, Hampton DuMont-CAL, Osage, Waverly Shell-Rock and Webster City. Each team will select two doubles teams and two single players to represent their school – the top two finishers in both singles and doubles will advance to the Class 1A Individual Girls State Tennis Tournament held May 26-28 at Byrnes Park in Waterloo.
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