Southwest Cowgirls over the East Forsyth Eagles

8-1 in non-conference tennis action

It was hot.  Luckily we were playing in an air conditioned indoor facility near East Forsyth….wait, they don’t have an indoor facility…I must have been hallucinating from the intense heat.  I remember now….

Due to the heat, the coaches made sure the ladies did rush out to the courts.  Warm-ups were at a gingerly pace and frequent water and resting between games was the order of the day. 

Not taking to the courts till closer to 5, some courts immediately took off, and some were warming up slowly. 

We were playing 2 out of 3 sets with the 3^rd set a 10 pt tiebreaker.  Not to worry, though the Cowgirls hadn’t played this format yet this season, it turned out to be a great thing on one of the courts.

Though Christina Alentino, court 2, was the first to finish a set, (6-0 in the first), it was Lanie Van Dorp who took the first off the court banner.  Unfortunately for her opponent, the reason was heat related.  Unable to finish, the Lady Eagle had to retire after making little headway in her match. Lanie, 6-0, 3-0, ret…a win.

Christina began the match with deep shots and into the corners but as the match lengthened and the heat bore down, her stroke became truncated and her shots a bit safer.  Still enough for the win, Christina took a break from her opponent in the 7^th game of the second set and easily finished it out 6-0, 6-3.

Annie Bodin, Sophomore from Sweden, finally was able to get into the line-up after suffering a small illness the past week or more.  Showing little signs from her previous state, Annie jumped to a commanding lead, only allowing her opponent one held serve and quickly ran her opponent 6-0 in the second set.  6-1, 6-0.

Though up 3-0 in singles, there were still 3 courts out.  Wanting to win out in singles play dubs free from the pressure of a needed win, the Cowgirls needed 2 of the three remaining matches.

Meghan Whalen, a wonderful hitter, ran afoul against the Lady Eagle number 1.  Unable to match her opponent’s consistency and angles, Meghan closed her match out only taking one game in the process.  Ladies and Gentlemen, Court 1 is always tough.  Meghan adjusted, lobbed, aimed true for the corners, and her opponent answered everything Meghan had.

3-1…two courts remaining.

The heat was still a factor until closer to 7 when the sun began its decent and was hidden, in part, by the clouds and wall of trees.

Court 5 – Lauren Cook had taken the first set 6-3.  Showing nice rallies from both ladies on court 5 and longer points than normal, it took Lauren near 1hr45mins to finish off the Lady Eagle.  6-3, 6-2.  The match was much tighter than the score showed.

Now we come to Alethea Yu’s court 6.  Clocking in right over 2 hours on the court, Alethea showed the incredible bounce back.  Behind all of the first set and getting broken once in the process, coach’s words of wisdom finally hit home.  Playing her girl shorter than before, forcing her opponent to come in, and with that, hit her ball, though short, a bit longer on Alethea’s side, Alethea was able to do more with the ball, gaining her mojo back, pushing the corners, and rallying hard for a 6-2 2^nd set win forcing two breaks, Coach had little concern with her ability to close it out in the 3^rd set tie breaker.

1-0

2-0

3-0

3-1

3-2

4-2

4-3

5-3

6-3

7-3

8-3

8-4

9-4

10-4

Alethea had turned around a near defeat into a beautiful game of patience and smart hitting and in doing so, earned the Cowgirls 5^th win in singles and securing the match for SW.

Luckily we were sponsored by Aquafina, Pure water, Perfect taste, ease the heat’s effects on the Cowgirls…..No!  must have been Hallucinating.  We don’t have an official water sponsor.  Wow, it was hot out there.

Dubs:

If you were wondering where Gretchen Cross was during singles, seeing the depth of the Lady Eagles team, I opted to allow Gretchen to rest during singles to have her primed and ready for dubs.

With Meghan as her partner, this duo still took a bit to warm up.  Going down 1-4, something clicked.  Meghan and Gretchen at net, from the baseline, corners and allies galore, this team ran off 7 games in a row defeating the Lady Eagles #1 8-4.

Wanting to play Christina and Annie to see if magic could be found in this partner mix, Coach found the heat a bit much to play all the ladies twice for the evening.  Giving Christina his blessing to rest, Coach opted to bring up Abby Lowe to partner with Annie to take on court 2 dubs.  Allowing for only one held service for their opponents, between the net, approach and wicked inside out shot Annie was unleashing and the consistent and well-placed play of Abby, the Lady Eagles held but a small candle to the game of the Cowgirls.  Well played ladies.  8-1

Court three was a bonus court for the Cowgirls.  Welcoming back Kirsten Blunder and Heaven Dukes to the line-up after missing the first several games due to work and family commitments, these two held their own and pushed their will onto the Lady Eagles.  On serve through the first 9 games, the Cowgirls took a break, held and finished off their opponents 8-4.  Heaven ran very well, covering the court with her long strides while Kirsten moved fluidly on her side, covering the net and baseline play with equal gusto.  It was a very good game to watch on court 3. 

The Cowgirls sweep in dubs, close out the Lady Eagles 8-1 in match play.

The JV Cowgirls host the JV Lady Cougars of HPCA at home while the Varsity hit around a bit in prep of traveling to Mt Tabor on Wednesday.

Good Luck Cowgirls.

Singles :

McKinley Rice (EF) over Meghan Whalen (SW) 6-1,6-0

Christina Alentino (SW) over Ryan Mabe (EF) 6-0, 6-3

Annie Bodin (SW) over Kayla Walter (EF) 6-1, 6-0

Laney Van Dorp (SW) over Ellie Zaidi (EF) 6-0, 3-0

Lauren Cook (SW) over Christina Veloz (EF) 6-3, 6-2

Alethea Yu (SW) over Laken Clodfelter (EF) 3-6, 6-2, 10-4

Dubs :

Whalen/Cross (SW) over Rice/Mabe (EF) 8-4

Bodin/Abigail Lowe (SW) over Walter/Clodfelter (EF) 8-1

Dukes/Blunder (SW) over Dudley/Veloz (EF) 8-4

EF drops to 0-2 on the season

Cowgirls rise to 7-0 on the season and will travel to Mt Tabor for their first conference match on Wednesday.