Sept 20, 2018

SW Cowgirls over the Lady warriors of Wheatmore 5-4 in non conference tennis action

Having tied up in singles last time we played Wheatmore after adjusted the line-up by not playing two of the top six, simply put, Wheatmore had gotten my attention and earned the right to play my full line-up.

Unfortunately, if you remember back to that write-up, Christina had pushed herself a bit much, but her opponent well past her point, The young Lady Warrior had suffered an injury to her hip.  Still not fully recovered and not playing today, I couldn’t help myself and pulled

 out another top six player just to make it interesting for the ladies down line.

Let the game begin.

Quasi up on 6, 4, and 3.  Down on 5, 2, and 1.

Christina (court 1) was playing a totally different opponent.  The previous #1 hit long and deep...right into the wheel well of Christina.  Today’s opponent didn’t follow that same trend. The Lady Warrior began hitting shorter and higher, Christina’s game immediately

 began to suffer - unable to change into a different rhythm of play.  Straightening out for a brief turn, earning some games back, but never getting into a true rhythm, Christina exits the court 4-10.

Did I mention today was Lanie’s birthday?

Happy 17th Lanie!

Back and forth on 6, Lauren making a turn for the better on 5, Lanie hitting everything that came her way on 4, Annie in her zone at the net on 3, and Meghan struggling to keep pace with a different player as well.

Lanie, the birthday girl, was not to be trifled with on her special day.  Having gone down early against the same opponent last time, Lanie made it clear with strong game play early on she wanted the match.

Dear Reader:

It isn’t that Lanie doesn’t always push her play v the other teams, but to see her playing style from when she began on our courts to the bigger hitting, aggressive, corner painting player today would astound you.  Though she cannot impress her play on every opponent, she is learning a bigger and quite beautiful aspect of her game I am delighted to see blossom.

1-0, 2-0, 3-0, 4-0, 5-0, 6-0, 7-0, 8-0, 9-0, 10-0

Ladies and gentlemen.  5 serves held, 5 serves broken.  I must also tell you about Lanie’s opponent - Ms. Hicks.  A good player, hard hitting...remember she led Lanie by as much a 4 games in their first encounter, Ms Hicks was no push over.  She anticipated very

 well, moving to spots on the court before the ball was struck from Lanie, deep serves, the package at her talent spot.  But Lanie had her number. Though Ms Hicks moved very well today, Lanie was on fire. Lanie didn’t blindly hit, no! She saw, she planned two,

 three hits ahead, and executed with precision...with many of the shots just the tip of the racquet away from the long arm stroke of Ms. Hicks.

Rejoice in the win and the score, but Kudos to Ms. Hicks and her playing style that necessitated Lanie playing a great game to win.

Meghan’s singles game on court 2 simply eluded her today.  It started rough and only began the turn to normal late in pro-10 play.  0-1, 0-2, 1-2.

This was the last game (service held...small victory) credited to Meghan for the next 4 games.  Had this been Wheel of fortune, the word would have been

tsktsk and Meghan was asking to buy a vowel...I think we see where this is going.

Down 1-6, Meghan peeked around the next corner.  With her opponent growing a bit weary, Meghan calmed down and began to see her shots.  2-6, 3-6, 3-7, 4-7, 5-7, 5-8, 6-8, 6-9, 7-9

But it was not enough.  Meghan’s shots didn’t warm up in time and the Lady Warrior prevailed on court 2.

Lauren’s second changeover brought a concerned coach out to chat about the first few games.  

It wasn’t that Lauren was hitting poorly, rather, she was playing a bit small.  Her opponent was a developed hitter. Bigger topspins that normal for Lauren. Deeper balls than normal for Lauren.  A serve that was quite good. I eased her concerns though. I told

 her to keep it in play, not to hit out to keep pace with her opponent.  Play Lauren’s game! .

And then it happened.  

Her opponent’s big shots took a toll on her own energy level.  The Lady Warrior began to calm, hit out only occasionally. Lauren began her comeback.  Down 1-3, the Lady Warrior still hit well, but she had lost the crispness of her earlier play.  With this advantage

 now in hiding, Lauren was able to play her consistent, longer rally game which almost immediately put her counterpart on the defensive.  The Lady Warrior began to hit harder hoping to regain the early games feel and glory, but to no real outcome. Lauren halts

 her opponent’s progression to 4 games in total, Lauren outscores her opponent 9-1 to finish 10-4 in singles.

And then we have Abigail Lowe’s court.  Wishing to play singles in conference play, Abigail had already taking out Wheatmore’s #5 Lauren’s opponent) last time and now face off against a very different style of hitter.

Before we continue Abby’s small journey, it must be added here that players of different rankings can cause havoc with other players higher than them just from the style of play they possess.  A few years back my top three consisted of Kyra (hugh Hitter), Mai (good

 power and placement), and Ellen (placement with a small amount of place). In short, they could all beat each other. Each of the other player’s weakness was one of the other’s strengths.  Abiie had simply found her kryptonite.

Back and forth.

Back and forth.

The Pro-10 set went close to 2 hours of play.  

Abigail behind, holding serve, breaking serve, finally up 9-8...just one more game.

Failing to move and her opponent an electron bouncing to and fro, Abigail loses the next game and it is tied at 9 each.

Not able to stem the bleeding, another game lost.  9-10.

Play falling into old habits, but enough of a hit to see it through, tied 10-10...a tie break.

1-0

1-1

1-2

1-3

2-3

3-3

4-3

4-4

4-5

4-6

5-6

6-6

7-6

7-7

7-8

7-9...and Abigail loses a very tight but incredibly close match.  

Hats off the the Wheatmore Warriors for their excellent play and drawing the match to 3-3 coming out of singles.

3-3 tie after singles.

Dubs

With Meghan’s game going a bit long holding up our #1 dubs and Wheatmore’s #2 dubs, and Abby’s marathon match keeping her opponent occupied, we didn’t begin dubs until near 7:10.

Whalen and Gretchen back in the line-up on court 1.  Bodin/Cook on court 2. A stretch match on 3 with Lydia Specht and Holly Galvan.

Having been occupied down on court 6 with Abby, courts 1 and 2 had begin their play.  By the time I walked up to court 1, the score was already 4-0. If you are an avid reader of the tennis chronicles, you remember that Whalen and Cross always begin their matches

 4 games down...this was a very different place for these ladies to be in...but they continued.

4-0, 5-0, 6-0, 7-0 (Pro-8 for dubs).

Could we sweep them?!?!?!?!?!

No.

Now I would say “squirrel, “but few were to be had this evening...but apparently something the girls were learning about today caused a several gas build-up to manifest in and around the brain.  For lack of a better term,

brainfart.

7-1, 7-2

All three of these games went to deuce.  Did I really think the Wheatmore ladies could capture lightning in a bottle for the next 6 games….no.  But to run to the threshold and not be allowed immediate entry….I worry about such things.