Aug 22, 2017

Southwest Cowgirls travel to the Lady Tigers of Ragsdale in non-conference tennis action

TUMS Extra Strength Assorted Fruit Antacid Chewable Tablets for Heartburn Relief, 48 count can be found on Amazon.  If you have amazon prime, shipping is free.  If those little drones could have delivered them to me through singles play today, I would have purchased two. 

Having played Ragsdale just last week and winning 6-3, with our line-up unchanged, I didn’t see much change to be had in the scores from each court.  I have never been so wrong.

Playing pro 10/pro 8 singles/dubs, Lanie Van Dorp was off the court from #6 easily handing her lady Tiger opponent 10 and 2.  Same consistent play as last time.  This was the only similarity in the singles all match.

Mai, having taken the top seed 9-7 last time, struggled to gain position on the court.  Falling behind a break early on, the talented Cowgirl served well but wholly ineffective against a Lady tiger whose game was simply on point.  Mai left the court 4 and 10.

Katelyn, normally the stalwart at #5 played an entirely new girl.  Not that the girl was different in name as last week, but the girl had a game unlike anything she demonstrated previously.  Katelyn, strong on the consistency, went up early 4-1.  The Lady Tiger didn’t get the memo she was suppose to lay down and lose and such that she mounted a comeback.  4-2, 4-3 (break), 4-4, 4-5 (break).  Not too worried player and coach spoke and changed the strategy a bit.  4-6, 5-6, 5-7, 6-7, 6-8, 6-9, and 6-10.  Speaking once more during the final games, Katelyn was not holding back, but for every surge she pushed, her opponent answered.  It was a solid hitting game, but in the end, The tigers out played us on Court # 5. 

Meghan, also wining last time, faced a new opponent.  The Tigers had changed their 3/4 players in a challenge match so Sam and Meghan both played new faces.  Sam went down 1-8 last time to this young Tiger, but Meghan went in, holding serve on both sides of the net through the first 5 games.  Meghan broke and held.  4-3.  Swapping serves again, 4-4, 5-4, 5-5, 6-5, 6-6, 7-6, 7-7, 7-8 (break).  Tigers were up.  7-9, 8-9, and finally 8-10.  There were no egregious mistakes made.  There were no smoking gun evident in the play witnessed.  The singles match went to the Tigers in a very close battle marked by long rallies and simply great play all around.  These are hard to lose, but a great match to watch.

Cowgirls down 1-3.

Kyra held a bright spot tonight.  Though losing last time in a close 6-8 match, Kyra jumped to a small lead and though it ebbed back to remain on serve, Kyra’s serve was going in more and her shots had a bit more spin keeping them in play – often as winners.  Kyra ultimately prevailed 10-7, erasing the stigma from last match’s loss. 

Cowgirls 2-3.

The Singles play of the evening has to go to Sam on Court 3.  As spoken to her and doubles partner Meghan after play was finished for the night, 3^rd and 4rd seeds become the fulcrum of the team.  AS they go, with quality (and deep) teams, so goes the match.  Sam had little to answer in the form of shots as the Lady Tiger jumped to a commanding 1-6 lead.  Speaking briefly, I reminded Sam of her play against the team from Smith just yesterday.  Though outpaced and out hit, Sam was able to post a moral victory, cutting into her opponents flow and clawing a few games more.  Sam’s challenge was to lift the ball (creates distance closer to the baseline), pull her opponent in, and punch it longer to through her opponent off foot.  Would this win?  It would at least build experience to use later in the season.  Sam fooled us all.  Taking the words to heart, Sam radically changed her game, slowing the tempo, hitting low and sliding angles off to the side, making her opponent run.  As I tell the ladies, make them take that one more step each point – and over the match, they will have run so much farther that you and tire themselves out in the process.  2-6.  Approaches were good, serves in, short shorts low and away.  3-6.  Shots lifted higher, corners painted, 4-6.  A small defense, 4-7.  Lifted and solid hitting, 5-7.  Another, 6-7.  Frustration on the Tiger’s side of the net, 7-7.  A retort, 7-8, and answer, 8-8.  Entering the zone, 9-8, and with serve, Sam had come back from a 1-6 deficit against an excellent hitter to win 10-8.  The book of Revelation describes the outcome as gnashing of teeth.  Yeah, I think I heard that from the opponent’s side.

In spectacular fashion, Sam was able to draw us back in the match at 3-3 in singles.  Had she not, we would have been in the hole 2-4 and necessitate us taking all three dubs.  At 3-3, we only needed 2.  2 dubs was doable.

Vo/Akande #1

Hamrick/Whalen #2

Van Dorp/Gretchen Cross #3

Van Drop/Cross – first time together, were the first dubs team off the court.  Playing a slightly less experienced team, the solid hitting and strong crosscourt shots from the baseline coupled with good coverage nearer the net was all it took to take down dubs #3, 8-2.

One more. Cowgirls up 4-3.

Hamrick and Whalen Court 2 traded serves with their opponents the first 5 games of the match, but then began to pull away.  Threatening their net opponents with deft hitting and great defensive shots + put aways with anything short, the Cowgirls finish their play winning 8-3. 

Having secured the match 5-3, Vo and Akande still needed to finish out their match.  Up 5-3, the match was the cowgirls to win.  5-4 (Tigers hold).  The Tigers began hitting sharp angles.  5-5. Cowgirls hold, 6-5.  Tigers answer, 6-6.  7-6.  7-7.  8-7, break, 9-7. Holding and sweeping the Lady Tigers 3-0 in dubs (2^nd time ever in my tenure sweeping a team in dubs). 

Cowgirls take out the Lady Tigers of Ragsdale 6-3

Singles:

Meghan O’Neal (R) over Mai Vo (SW) 10-4

Kyra Akande (SW) over Abby Ransey (R) 10-7

Sam Hamrick (SW) over Olga Elezovic (R) 10-8

Suzanne Herndon (R) over Meghan Whalen (SW) 10-8

Elle Ramsey (R) over Katelyn Leinbach (SW) 10-6

Lanie Van Dorp (SW) over KC Colbert (R) 10-2

3-3 after singles

Dubs:

Vo/Akande (SW) over O’Neal/Herndon (R) 8-6

Hamrick/Whalen (SW) over A Ramsey/Elezovic (R) 8-3

Van Dorp/Gretchen Cross (SW) over E Ramsey/Colbert (R) 8-2

3-0 Cowgirls

6-3 Cowgirls over the Lady Tigers of Ragsdale

Tigers drop to 0-2.  They will play Western on Thursday.

Cowgirls rise to 5-0 on the season, 1-0 in conference play.  They rest tomorrow but will travel to High Point Central on Thursday.