Sept 10 v Wesleyan

Cowgirls played host to the Lady Trojans of Wesleyan tonight.  All in all, it was quite a roller coaster of an evening.

Singles taking the court, Audrey, Christina, Meghan, Lanie, Gretchen, and Nicole...Annie is still out with her knee.

Their Top court was good.  Though Audrey is quite talented, two + years her senior, the Trojans #1 stopped Audrey in her tracks.  2-6, 2-6.

Christina prevailed in the first set, stumbled in the 2nd set, but managed to take out her opponent in the 3rd (super 10 pt tiebreaker), 6-1, 4-6, 10-1.  Kudos to Christina for being able to get it back and win.

Meghan wasn’t moving well, but fought back from a 1-4 deficit in both sets, but just short of her goal for the win.  4-6, 4-6.

Lanie had the hardest time reading her opponent and came up short 2-6, 2-6.  She couldn’t get into her rhythm.

Nicole roared ahead in the first, but lost her mojo late in the second allowing her opponent to take the set (5-7), and try as she might, Nicole couldn’t get back into it fully, allowing her opponent to snatch the victory from her (6-3, 5-7, 8-10).

Down 1-5 after singles, there was no way of winning...but more on that later.

Doubles happened.  Honestly, it was hot, and in losing the match, the girls were not quite into it as a whole.  Audrey partnered with Christina for a #1 dubs, but the heat took Audrey out of contention and she had to retire from the match after 3 games due to illness.

Meghan and Gretchen began play in high spirits and hitting, but the shots didn’t fall and their efforts simply returned null.  3-8.

But probably the best match of the night was little more than an experiment.  Please understand reader that coach doesn’t just throw two people together and call it a dubs team, there is a lot of trial and error based on the opponents, each other, and who feels lucky tonight….much like gambling, but without dice and money on the line.  Clearly, just kidding about the gambling. Let it ride as a metaphor.

But seriously, Nicole exasperated after singles, left me with a question of the dubs partners Tran Nguyen and Maggie Mugi.  Both are adequate hitters, but how well would they do in a dubs match?

Well, they got off to a rough start.  Initially trailing 0-3, coach didn’t put much stock into a victory on dubs court #3.  Coach had a chat about lemonade out of lemons, learn a lesson, here try this….and it began to work.  The lifts/lobs went higher and in. The cross courts were being effective. Their opponents were idling on their heels and the Cowgirls were battling through every point.  

1-3

2-3

2-4

3-4

4-4

5-4

6-4

6-5

7-5

8-5 for the win.  They sync’ed and began to play, not as two strangers attempting singles on a shared court, rather, as a dubs team.  It was a breath of fresh air in a night that didn’t go our way……

But didn’t it?

I told you there would be more.  After singles it was discussed between the coaches that their team had sat #2 singles for team rule violation.  But as the story unfolded, their coach also stated she had put her #7 into the #2 spot instead of moving all of the other ladies up.  

Intrigue, I know!

Since this was only discovered after the singles matches had concluded, save for Nicole’s marathon match, Coach challenged their coach to a dual….no, not really, but did question the validity of such a move.  They thought they were in the right, while coach disagreed. Upon returning home, coach looked up the rules online.  

Though the Cowgirls were in the right and this was not allowed in NCHSAA play, since the match involved two different tennis governing bodies, the ruling would be decided by which venue hosted.  Think house rules for board games or hid and seek back when you were young. When you are at your house, your rules. Their house, their rules.

And we played at Home.  NCHSAA found that since the Cowgirls hosted at SW, NCHSAA rules should dictate.  In short, an illegal player swap on their part, since Christina won, courts 3-6 should be forfeit on their part.

So instead of a loss 2-7, the pendulum swung back, Cowgirls over the Lady Trojans 6-3

Since you read this far anyway, Please do not think ill of our adversaries this night.  Their coach simply did what tey are allowed to do in their system, but simply didn’t understand how this would be viewed by others.  The takeaway, when in Rome….

Mac Lean Redmond (WCA) over Audrey Serb (SW) 6-2, 6-2

Christina Alentino (SW) over Alexis Cruz (WCA) 6-1, 4-6, 10-1

Meghan Whalen (SW) over Gracie LeFever (WCA) by default

Lanie Van Dorp (SW) over Isabella Heinback (WCA) by default

Gretchen Cross (SW) over Katie Bullins (WCA) by default

Nicole Sopala (SW) over Katie Sledge (WCA) by default

Dubs:

Redmond/Lefever (WCA) over Serb/Alentino (SW) 2-1 ret

Heinback/Bullins (WCA) over Whalen/Cross (SW) 8-3

Tran Nguyen/Maggie Mugi (SW) over Cruz/Sledge (WCA) 8-5

In light of the NCHSAA ruling, Cowgirls win 6-3 and raise their record to 1-0, 6-0 and will play Ragsdale on Thursday.