SWG Cowgirls fall to a deep Lady Whirlies team from Grimsley in Conference W Tennis action

Tonight, I will be short(er than in previous writings). 

The Cowgirls played incredibly against the Whirlies the first meeting.  Though not as many breakthroughs and thrilling play tonight, the quality of play was elevated across the board. 

With a key player ill for Grimsley, the Whirlies had to play up on courts 3-6.  Though it sounds like a great boon for the Cowgirls, it all depends on the playing style of each match. 

Unfortunately, the Whirlies edged the Cowgirls in 4 of the 6 singles matches.

Congrats to Audrey and Jada for securing singles wins tonight.

Audrey was no nonsense in her approach…moving the Whirlie around the court, pressuring her from the get go of serve, the baseline, and approaching the net, her opponent had little left save for defensive play.  To her credit, the Whirlie returned well and had pace enough to hang with the force known as Audrey for 3-5 shots…but Audrey’s game was another step above as she pulled away for the win 1 and 2.

Jada also was able to dial in her opponent in short time, pressuring her opponent from the baseline initially and then as the balls returned short, moving into the midcourt to hit her signature crosscourt shots, both forehand and backhand.  Though sailing a few beyond the entrapments of the baseline, Jada settled nicely and was able to take most of the remaining games winning 3 and 2.

Anna, Lauren, Rachael, and Betsy all fought extremely well with many of their games going to deuce before their respective opponents finishing out strongly. 

Lauren, Rachael and Betsy all played a better version of their respectable tennis game.  Every shot the Whirlies hit simply went deeper with a better angle than the Cowgirls shots.  To hit against a wall is unsettling.  To hit against a differently abled player at least allows you the opportunity to tune your game into a frequency that allows for a disruption of the norm…but to play a better version of yourself…they know your moves and simply put, can execute them better and more frequently than you can.  There simply wasn’t much the Cowgirls could do to change the direction of the matches.

Again, they played their game well, it simply wasn’t enough for tonight.

What about Anna?

She had a hole shot, trading serves for the first 5 games, Anna was dialing in her opponent…but then her opponent went to lobtown.  Every shot was up and through the first set, deep enough to frustrate the Cowgirl into making unforced errors from the baseline and beyond.  The Whirlie changed the conditions of the game.  Changing strategies in the 2^nd set, Anna made playing progress, but little that resulted in flipping the placards to reflect an increase score for the Cowgirl.  She began generating more power and tried to improve her angle causing the Whirlie to began hitting shorter which allowed Anna to move closer to the net and began drop shotting her opponent or go for a more drastic angle across the net with her returns…but Consistency is a beast of an adversary when she is fickle.  To her credit, the Grimsley player simply got to the shots and returned them…keeping them in long enough for Anna to succumb to the consistency game. 

Anna played her game to the “t”, and then more so.  She changed her game, covering the dreaded mid court with an improved shot selection and additional angles…but the Lobtown wall won tonight. 

The silver lining?  Anna knows the two shots she needs to continue to improve on in her pursuit of the top spot next year.  Coach thinks she has it in her to bridge that distance and elevate her game to close out such players come next season.

Down 2-4 after Singles, there was little hope of winning all three dubs matches in light of Grimsley’s strength showed in dubs last time.

Rachael/Betsy and Jada/Caroline Church hit well.  Coach saw no great deficiencies in the Cowgirls’ #2 and #3 seeds.  Their opponents were just stronger, never allowing the Cowgirls their footing to extend their shots too successfully across the net.  Clearly these ladies have been around the game for more than 2 years.  As such, they were able to keep the Cowgirls back or hit incredible angles the Cowgirls could not cover.  Net play was strong on both sides, but the advantage went to Grimsley in their efforts.

2 more wins for the Whirlies. 

The lone Dubs win came from the top court of Audrey and Anna.  They were just on tonight.  Playing their singles opponents now as a dubs team, the Cowgirls leverage their play and forced the Whirlies back.  As strong as the Grimsley ladies were in holding their own service games, the Cowgirls still made inroads and captured two in their 8-4 victory.  Between Audrey’s unstoppable power and shot selection and Anna’s sound returns and net play angling for winners….it was just beautiful to watch.  When these two are on (which they have been for all but two matches this season, they are nearly unstoppable as a team.  Dubs, well played, is simply a thing of beauty you need to behold in your life.

Though falling 3-6 to a deep and well trained Grimsley team, the Cowgirls have showed marked improvement in their play at every talent spot since last meeting between these two conference teams.

And reader, if you want to see some great tennis action, for FREE!, look no further than the SWG tennis courts October 10 and 11^th.  SW hosts the Conference tournament where both 32 total teams (singles and doubles) descend on the SW courts to play it out for supremacy.  It will be intense. 

Bring a jacket and blankets…it looks to cool off even more over the next two weeks.

Singles:

      Audrey Serb (SW) over Cambree Spencer (G) 6-1, 6-2

      Gianna Blacutt (G) over Anna McGinnis (SW) 6-3, 6-1

      Lindsay McRae (G) over Lauren Harris (SW) 6-3, 6-1

      Morgan Hall (G) over Rachael Dee(SW) 6-2, 6-1

      Violet Sprange (G) over Betsy Chen(SW) 6-2, 6-3

      Jada Speight (G) over Whitley Kemp (G) 6-3, 6-2
 

Dubs:

      Serb/McGinnis(SW) over Spencer/Blacutt(G) 8-4

      Hall/Hilleboe(G) over Dee/Chen(SW) 8-1

      McRae/Kemp(G) over Speight/Caroline Church(SW) 8-2
 

Grimsley Whirlies over the Cowgirls of SWG 6-3 in conf W Tennis action.
 

Whirlies rise to 9-3, 11-3

Cowgirls fall to 7-5, 10-8

Cowgirls ravel to Ragsdale on Monday for more conference play.