September 9, 2018

Cowgirls playing host to Cornerstone Charter Academy

It started out a bit warm, but eventually turned into a very pleasant evening for tennis.

Having never played our tennis opponents tonight, I really didn’t know what to think about our match.  We have strength, on some evenings, more than others, but to play a team without having history...without a baseline, well, we had to start sometime.

Courts:

1/ Audrey Serb - 9th

2/ Christina Alentina - 10th

3/ Lanie Van Dorp - 12th

4/ Gretchen Cross -12th

5/ Annie Vo - 11th - early college

6/ Lauren Harris - 9th

Cornerstone looked good in their warm-ups.  Having introduced and paired off the ladies to their respective courts, the initial few games looked favorable to the Cowgirls.

Audrey clearly had the power to put away her opponent.  Audrey clearly had opportunity to keep the ball out of the net and in the lines.  It was an obvious talent difference. Audrey had the advantage. But even still, the first few games were a simple exchange of serves.  Audrey broke, held, broke again, both sides held, and with two more holds and a break, Audrey brought it home. The points were good points, but Audrey’s serve was on point as well as her general athleticism as she chased down most shots, not letting her opponent hardly any advantage in their play.  This was the deciding factor. Victory to Audrey 8-4.

Christina played one of the most complete games coach has witnessed from her.  Serve was on point with several aces to boot. Approaches crisp, and she kept her rallies in play handing the opportunity to err back to her opponent.  It is amazing what keeping the ball in play will do for a game. Though her opponent kept it competitive drawing close with most games going to duece, she couldn’t close and with Christina playing wonderfully today, she won 8-2.

Lanie Van Dorp.  To watch her focus on the court, to hit well, approach the shorter balls, and hit her corners repeatedly, this is quite the joy.  No, Lanie wasn’t as crisp as she finished last season, but she is well positioned to meet and exceed her game from last year. Her opponent was a good hitter, challenging Lanie on most points, even drawing her back and forth, but Lanie had the mental and game edge.  Lanie broke her opponent twice, distancing herself from her opponent.and claiming the victory 8-3.

Gretchen faced off against a short hitting….er, I mean, a player who hit shorter shots.  Whew! That was close. I almost lost half of the readership with that last comment. I will inform the coach to issue an apology to any party that felt this was an inappropriate comment.  Gretchen faced off against a young lady whose shots, when hit, resulted in a shorter shot, by contrast, not deep to a baseline hitters strength. And honestly, this caused a bit of a lackluster performance in Gretchen’s play through the first games.  Bringing her over, Coach chatted with her concerning the literal shortcomings of her movement to the ball. Falling behind another break, Gretchen began to move, and move well. Breaking her opponent twice and holding her own, she equaled it up at 5 all.  Not to be outdone, her opponent began to raise her game, hitting shorter shots and passing Gretchen with better angles. Gretchen couldn’t find an answer and posted the only loss in singles on the night. 5-8.

Annie Vo found a talented opponent who began to force her game on Annie.  Loopy, high bouncing shots were the norm for the game. Understand Annie’s shots are a bit higher and deeper than most, but intro the opponent, and the near lobfest had arrived.  Changing leads twice in the opening foray of games, Annie adjusted, stepped back, and began to push her opponent back with deeper lobs. Though this wasn’t the slug fest of other courts, Annie’s focus, and adjustments gave her the edge.  Yes, it was slower in coming, but Annie dialed in her opponent, held through several deuces, gaining the lead and eventually broke her opponent to claim the match. Annie hold on to her court with an 8-5 win.

Again, not knowing how well CCA players were, Coach opted to play a wildcard at #6.  Lauren Harris. Lauren is seeded #11 on our team, but normally there is a drop off in opponents near 5th or 6th courts.  Coach wanted to give Lauren an opportunity to shine brighter….and she did.

Lauren’s opponent was a lefty with a wicked serve, solid forehands and backhands.  Did I say she moved well too? Lauren did not back down. Lauren, playing a bit aggressive, challenged her CCA backstop on every point.  Shot for shot, they played almost the same. But Lauren had a wee bit more distance on her shots, and coupled with her great reaction time and returns, pushed and pulled her opponent so as to enter deeper into no man’s land and in doing so, setting up a deeper passing or forcing her opponent into a deep court volley that was hard to control.  Lauren, swapping serves to start, broke her opponent 3 straight times securing the win. Depth and shot selection coupled with good footwork were the deciding factors of Lauren’s 8-3 victory.

The Cowgirls win the match in singles 5-1.

Having won the match, I wanted to give an opportunity of the lower seeds to play a high quality opponent.  

Tran Nguyen (10th)/Maggie Mugi (11th - Early College)

Avery McCaskill (11th)/Sandra Striletchi (10th)

Hannah Beamon (9th) /Kate Cherry (10th)

Though hitting solid down the line, lifting the ball over the opponents, and dialing in a selection of cross courts shots, the athleticism of one of their opponents to track down almost every passing shot with an answer and the net person in picking off erant shots was uncanny.  Avery and Sandra played a good game, but in the end, their opponents edged them out of the winners spot. 3-8.

Beamon and Cherry ran afoul of their footwork and shot selection.  Though this same game had won two other JV matches earlier in the season, it was obvious that their current game needs a few improvements to remain competitive in the varsity matches.  Understand they played well. Their shots landed in and they tried to put pressure on their opponents, but their game was outmatched by their opponents. We all have work to do to become the tennis players we want to be. 

Dubs 1-2

Overall 6-3

Audrey Serb (SW) over Arizona Poole (CCA) 8-4

Christina Alentina (SW) over Preston Hawkins (CCA) 8-2

Lanie Van Dorp (SW) over Ashleigh Tyree (CCA) 8-3

Molly Cooper (CCA) over Gretchen Cross (SW) 8-5

Annie Vo (SW) over Katlyn Poole (CCA) 8-5

Lauren Harris (SW) over Sydney Clark (CCA) 8-3

Dubs:

Tran Nguyen/MAggie Mugi (SW) over Katlyn Poole/Sydney Clark (CCA) 8-6

Rebekah Kirkman/Mica Patterson (CCA) over Avery McCaskill/Sandra Striletchi(SW) 8-3

Katie Wright/Madison Rudd (CCA) over Hannah Beamon/ Kate Cherry (SW) 8-2

SW over CCA 6-3 in a very competitive non conference tennis match

SW travels to EF for non-conference tennis action