Oct 1 Away v Western

Cowgirls enter into tonight’s match 3-2 in the conference and 14-2 on the season with our only two defeats at the hands of conference rivals Mt Tabor.  Western has quality players, just not a line-up that can compete directly with the Cowgirls.

Coach opted to sit two top six players and play up on Dubs.

Let’s see where that took us.

From the get go, it looked promising.  Thinking critically about each match, Coach envisioned a 4-2 lead through single’s play.  Turned out to be closer than that.

Wanting Cowgirls #2 dubs to play up and really test them against the #1 dubs team of Western, Coach sat Whalen/Cross for dubs and Bodin and Cook for singles.

Up almost immediately on courts 1,2,4,5,6, I relaxed at my cleaver plan.

Now we bring in changes to this perfectly laid plan.

Court 1 turned.  Alentino, a talented hitter, was facing off against her counterpart, a big hitting, line painting counterpart.  Though coming out strong, a break, a hold, a break, and the Cowgirl was down 2-5. Rallying through 4 deuce points, Christina holds. 3-5.  But not enough. The Lady Hornet closed out the first set on her next serve.

Beginning the second set, Christina began hitting stronger shots.  Serve was good. Points extended to 5,6,7 shots in length...hard shots….but the Lady Hornet began to edge her.  Going deuce in 5 games the second set, Christina was able to hold as tight as she needed to. Her game is developing nicely, but in the end, 3-6, 3-6 was the final score.

Down one.

Lanie played up to court #4 with the absence of Annie from singles play.  6 up, 6 down. Twice over. Little fanfare. Lanie prevails 6-0, 6-0.

Abigail was a late movement up after pulling Lydia Specht for dubs allowing for another Cowgirl to get playing time in the top six.  Abigail moved, failed to move, and then began to move once more. She only dropped one game in the second set taking her victory 6-0, 6-1.

2-1 Cowgirls.

Gretchen couldn’t find the other side of the court in the first set.  Knowing full well the curse of writer’s block….ok, not personally. Coach’s internal BS generator doesn’t have an off switch...but Coach has seen several movies where writer’s block occurs.  Misery comes to mind….and the take-away is give people the proper motivation….it is amazing what one can achieve. Coach isn’tr sure cutting off feet would be a good motivator for on court performance….please write ? SWGHS Tennis with your suggestions for motivation techniques.

Back to Court 3.  1st set now history, Gretchen began moving once more….but in the end she was only able to earn two games from the Lady Hornet.  0-6, 2-6.

2-2

Meghan Whalen made short work of Western #2.  6-0, 6-2. The only struggle came from a late match push from the Lady Hornet which Meghan simply bided her time and closed out the match on her next serve.

3-2

But the crux of the singles matches was court #6...Avery McCaskill.  New player, near the bottom of the team, but has played well in the top 6 before and I felt tonight was the right time to put her into rotation.  

First set, 6-2.  She moved well, hit well, served well, while the Lady Hornet couldn’t do much to string enough points together to get a foothold.  

But the foothold came in the 2nd set.  Settling down, the Lady Hornet came alive.  Pushing her forehand against Avery’s serve - deep against the line or into the corner...Avery had almost no answer.  Mirrored opposite from the 1st set, Lady Hornet takes the 2nd 6-2.

Tied, this goes to a tiebreaker.  

0-1

0-2

0-3

1-3

1-4

1-5

2-5

3-5

4-5

4-6

5-6

6-6

Dear creator in heaven…..somebody needs to win.

6-7

7-7

7-8

8-8

8-9

8-10

Avery loses and the and Hornets tie the Cowgirls after singles 3-3

The way tennis is played, once your lineup in submitted, only = or < players may be substituted out for lineup players.  Having sat out Whalen/Cross from dubs, moving Bodin/Cook up to #1 and playing deep on courts 2 and 3 in dubs, Coach began to question his great insight and plan.

Annie Bodin/Lauren Cook on dubs court 1

Johaina Apolinario/Morgan McGuire on dubs court 2

Lydia Specht/Holly Galvan on dubs court 3

At 3-3, it is a race to 5 wins.  In short, whichever team takes 2 of the 3 dubs matches will be the victor.  I did not relish a potential lose to Western, but I dug this line-up...let’s sitck it out and see where it takes us.

Court three took a while to begin, courts 1 / 2 started straight away.

Court 1 featured the Lady Hornets from singles court 1 and 2.  

Annie and Lauren began to battle.  Their counterparts hit harder than they did, but lacked the consistency of the Cowgirls.  2-1...promising, but additional games to win at 8.

Checking in on court 2 and the exhibition games being played, when Coach returned...4-1. Hallelujah!  A hold and a break. Bodes well on court 1...but then a hiccup. The Lady Hornets hold...4-2. Lauren serving..not stellar in light of a hard hitting duo...4-3.  Another Lady Hornet hold...4-4.

Cowgirl hold 5-4.

Lady Hornet hold 5-5

Cowgirl hold 6-5

Cowgirl break 7-5

ONE MORE!

Lady Hornet break 7-6

And on the 3rd match point, the Cowgirls close out court 1 8-6.

Nerve wracking! But worth it!

Understand the rationale behind this move of Annie/Lauren to Court #1

Come Conference seeding next Monday night, this Victory will guarantee these Cowgirls no lower than 4th seed overall in the dubs draw.  

Cowgirls had one of the two needed to win the match over all.

Court 2 had an easier ride.  

1-0

2-0

2-1

3-1

3-2

4-2

5-2

6-2

6-3

7-3

7-4

8-4

Victory.  The Lady Hornets played well and really pushed the Cowgirls in the individual games, but couldn’t collect enough points to claim more games and ultimately the match.

Having won the match overall, Court 3 needed to finish.

For them to win, gravy.  If they lost, though not preferable, the Cowgirls had done what they needed to do to claim victory.  

4-4, 5-4, 5-5

5-6

6-6

6-7

7-7

7-8

7-9

A loss, but incredibly tight play from the Cowgirls.  No real defects found on Court 3 tonight...they simply were outplayed by a smidget...a good night of incredibly competitive play.

Singles

Brooke Henley (W) over Christina Alentino (SW) 6-3, 6-3

Meghan Whalen (SW) over Jordanne Arace (W) 6-0, 6-2

Sophie Bernessar (W) over Gretchen Cross (SW) 6-0, 6-2

Lanie Van Dorp (SW) over Macy Morgan (W) 6-0, 6-0

Abigail Lowe (SW) over Kierston Bredon (W) 6-0, 6-1

Rachel Johnson (W) over Avery McCaskill (SW) 2-6, 6-2, 10-8

3-3 Singles Tie

Dubs

Annie Bodin/Cook (SW) over Henley/Arace (W) 8-6

Apolinario/McGuire (SW) over Bernesser/Morgan (W) 8-4

Bredon/Johnson (W) over Calvin/Specht 9-7

Cowgirls over Lady Hornets by 5-4 in Conference Tennis Action.

Cowgirls improve to 15-2 on the season and finish 4-2 in conference play.

Cowgirls travel to Asheboro on Wednesday and play host to SE guilford on Thursday.

Western drops to 2-3 in conference and 6-8 on the season.