Aug 29, 2017

Cowgirls travel to the Lady Falcons of Southeast in nonconference tennis action

Singles

Having played well against the Lady Falcons the first week of season, The Cowgirls definitely had the edge…and as such, I decided to play around with the line-up.

Sitting 4 of the top seven out, I wanted the Cowgirls to play up, and in some cases, way up to stretch their limits of play.

Mai, Sam, and Meghan all won in convincing fashion with only 3 games earned against them in total playing at 1,2,and 3 respectively.  Please do not take from this their opponents were not quality, they were.  The play these three offered their opponents was simply too much for rivals during match play.  The Lady Falcons held on valiantly stroke for stroke earned multiple deuce opportunities, and rallied quiet effectively, but in the end, the Cowgirls simply outplayed them.  With such a young team, after graduating 10 from last year’s squad, their rebuilding efforts are going well.

As mentioned above, I played deep.  #8 Johaina Apolinario and #9 Abby Lowe played up on courts 4 and 5.  Bea Calitan (freshman and first varisty match ever), #15 on the team, played on court #6.

Bea, playing another newbie to the courts, rallied strong with many of the points only ending after 7 shots or more.  With speed like few others on the team, Bea was able to maintain her shots while her opponent’s shots waned, and in doing so, was able to finish out the match with a victory.  Bea chalks her first Varsity win of the season.

The singles courts to watch though were Johaina’s and Abby’s courts.  More equally matched = much more tennis action.  Abby’s match was a lot of back and forth in score, points won, and opportunities taken.  Starting off on serve through the first 5 games, Abby was able to break her opponent’s serve in game 6, but just as quickly, lost her serve to remain on serve 4-3.  Another break point, and Abby capitalized on it again, 5-3.  Holding her own with somewhere between shuffling and running, Abby began to use her approaches to the net to lay solid cross courts down and away from her opponent.  6-3.  Not to be outdone, Abby’s opponent held and challenged Abby for her serve.  Holding on, 7-4.  7-5, 7-6, 8-6, 9-6, 10-6 to win on court #5.

Johaina also played well on her court.  Going down 1-3, Johaina climbed back into contention, breaking and holding serve, 3-3.  3-4, Opponent held.  4-4, Johaina held.  5-4, break, 6-4, 6-5, 7-5, 7-6, 8-6, 8-7, 9-7, and breaking her opponent’s serve, winning on court 4 10-7.  Readers please understand Johaina’s match lasted longer than Abby’s did with what I feel was even longer points played.  Our collective Cowboy hats off to these two ladies for their play and ultimately giving us the win for the match.

Singles, 6-0 Cowgirls.

Having secured the match, I continued playing deep for doubles.  The Lady Falcons split their top team to bolster the defenses of dubs #1 and #2 while their #3 dubs were a set team and needed no upheaval to solidify their play.

As the narrator of the story, I must ask that if you decide to turn away now, the warm fuzzies of solid play resulting in a win will continue.  But as I tell the girls, you can play off your rockers well, and lose.  You can play like crap and win.  I am more concerned with how you play rather than the score.  Doubles followed singles play:

Dubs #3, Blake Murphy and Kirsten Blunder, both juniors and both newcomers to Cowgirls tennis.  Though not as shot savvy as some of their team mates, Kirsten and Blake have hustle in their step and hearts the size of small sedans.  Playing most points approaching duece, #3 Cowgirls did their darnedest to stay in the game, but the Lady Falcons had their number.  Relying on a previous year of play and teamwork, the Lady Falcons slowly pushed the Cowgirls back and into the corners before collapsing the wave around them.  There were many spirited point on both sides, but in the end, the Lady Falcons played much better as a team than in singles.

Alethea Yu/Lauren Cook (court 1) and Morgan McGuire/Holly Galvin (court 2) both fought very well in their attempts of toppling the entrenched Lady Falcons.  Morgan and Holy, for their part, took the games to deuce and beyond for most of their play.  Heavy Shots delivered but countered more angled or higher and over near the baseline to neutralize the solid net playing of the Cowgirls, Court two pulls up short 5 -8.  Alethea and Lauren also came up short in their underdog quest 4-8.

Audience, please do not think me rude or callous for putting these ladies in this type of situation.  Just as the blacksmith heats the metal for it to become more malleable, so too I put the girls in situations they need to fight.  Their games witness shots and movements not found on the friendly inter squad play at home.  Their game must change, must bend to overcome these new obstacles.  Did they come up short…yes.  But their play was solid against a much better opponent than has been previously possible in other matches.  The Lady Falcons simply outplayed our dubs just as the Cowgirls outplayed them in singles.  Kudos to both sides in their play tonight.

Dubs 0-3  Lady Falcons sweep.

Overall

6-3 on the bight with the Cowgirls winning.

Singles:

Mai Vo (SW) over Erica Lane (SE) 10-2

Sam Hamrick (SW) over Calli Medlin (SE) 10-0

Meghan Whalen (SW) over Lauren Skerlak (SE) 10-1

Johaina Apolinario (SW) over Jalyn Sams (SW) 10-7

Abby Lowe (SW) over Rebecca Oster (SE) 10-6

Bea Calitan (SW) over Sophie Patton

Dubs

Lane/Skerlak (SE) over Aletha Yu/Lauren Cook (SW) 8-4

Medlin/Oster (SE) over Morgan McGuire/Holly Galvin (SW) 8-5

Sams/Patton (SE) over Murphy/Blunder (SW) 8-2

Cowgirls notch another non-conference win, now 7-1, and remain 1-1 on the season in conference play.

The Cowgirls will continue play tomorrow, hosting Grimsley in non-conference play.