August 14, 2017

Southwest Cowgirls hosting the Lady Bison of HPC in non conference tennis action

The Cowgirls and that Lady Bison began their season tonight.  Beyond the first couple games of jittery nerves on both sides of the net the Cowgirls were able to settle down and began to take hold of most of the singles matches.

Sophomore and first year tennis Cowgirl Lanie Van Dorp was the first one off the courts in 42 minutes.  Deft playing and good angles kept her in control the entire match.  Senior #2 Kyra Akande also maintained her composure in the humid and not too cool weather and biding her time, was able to push her opponent deep with heavy hitting to secure the second win for the Cowgirls of the evening.

Senior #4 Katelyn Leinbach played a rematch from last year and after a few games of give and take, was able to break serve, three times and take the match 8-2.

Sophomore #3 Meghan Whalen struggled at the onset of the match dropping her second game serve but was able to regain her court press and begin to hit wider in the corners and deeper on the baseline to push her opponent in several forced errors, giving her the match 8-4.

Mai Vo, senior, #1, also came out a bit hesitant but settled down and began to outpace her opponent breaking her twice to finish out the match.

The lone loss in singles of the night came from a great effort from #6 Gretchen Cross.  Though close at 7-9, the higher loopy ball of the opponent was a bit much for the sophomore.

SW 5-1 in singles

Dubs Action:

With regular #3 Sam Hamrick recuperating from an off the court boo boo, Meghan Whalen teamed up with newcomer Lanie Van Dorp and went to work.  Stronger together than separate, the Lady Bison held serve and gave the Cowgirls a run for their money.  Unfortunately, with the scored tied, still on serve, at 5 – 5, one of the Lady Bison rolled her ankle abruptly ending the current point.  After calling the trainer and coach out, with the match already decided in favor of the Cowgirls, it was decided to allow the Lady Bison to rest and heal before their next match and the beginning of conference play.  Lady Bison retired, Cowgirls pick up their first dubs win of the evening.

Soon off the courts were #1 dubs Mai Vo and Kyra Akande.  No fuss, no muss, almost all business, they concluded the match with a 8-1 exclamation point.

Probably the most entertaining match of the night was #3 dubs – Katelyn Leinbach and Gretchen Cross.  New partners trying their skills and communication out in their first match of their careers, they fell into an early hole.  Later called a 4 game mental hiatus, the Cowgirls, down 6-2, began the climb back up.  Holding twice and breaking three times, and a trade of games in addition, the Cowgirls take back the lead at 8-7.  Bison break.  8-8.  Into a tiebreaker we go.  Cowgirls v Lady Bison.  1-0, a break.  2-0, a hold of serve.  2-1, a break.  2-2, a hold.  2-3, a hold.  3-3, a hold.  Swap sides.  3-4, a break.  3-5, a hold.  3-6, a hold.  4-6, a hold.  4-7, a break and the Cowgirls drop the pro-set in a tiebreaker 4-7.  Though heartbreaking, the Cowgirls were able to overcome their mental block and all but win.  Way to go Cowgirls!

Dubs 2-1

Mai Vo (SW) over Anna Eskew (HPC) 8-5

Kyra Akande (SW) over Grace Sedberry (HPC) 8-3

Meghan Whalen (SW) over Brooke Little (HPC) 8-4

Katelyn Leinbach (SW) over Ginny Cross (HPC) 8-2

Lanie Van Dorp (SW) over Anna Yarborough (HPC) 8-3

Alex Moore (HPC) over Gretchen Cross (SW) 9-7

Singles 5-1 Cowgirls

Dubs:

Vo/Akande (SW) over A Eskew/G Sedberry (HPC) 8-1

Whalen/Van Dorp (SW) over B Little/G Cross (HPC) 5-5 ret

A Yarborough/A Moore (HPC) over Leinbach/Cross (SW) 9-8 (7-4)

Dubs 2-1 Cowgirls

7-2 Cowgirls over Bison in non conference play.

The Lady Bison drop their first contest of the season.  0-1.

The Cowgirls put a mark in the wins box and begin their season 1-0.

The Cowgirls will play host to the Lady Tigers of Ragsdale beginning 4:30 on Tuesday, Aug 15.