May 24, 2021

Cloudy with a chance of rain….on Mt. Tabor’s parade.

I know, a cheesy intro, but it did begin to sprinkle, and we had to hold for 12 minutes until it stopped and the girls court take to the court safely. 

SW Cowgirls host the Lady Spartans of Mt Tabor.  After a good but disappointing first match with the Spartans, the Cowgirls really wanted to turn the tide and walk away victorious.

Who am I kidding.  Few of the ladies remember from match to match who we play…short of the team name embroidery on the shirt.  The season is such a confluence of play, good times, and that tall, skinny, and rugged coach cheering from the sideline…game details are easy to lose in the noise.  

But in reality, today is a big to do.  Losing the first time out 2-7 did little to inspire confidence in coach for this outing, but as the reader has witnessed, the underlying game was a solid one.  The one swap in the Cowgirl line up was Nicole and Tran…4 and 3 respectively.  Having both lost in a third set tiebreak last time and a bit of challenging over the weekend, both Nicole and Tran were up to the challenge on their respective new courts.  

Undefeated Audrey remains undefeated.  Meg (Tabor #1) had nothing to answer the onslaught of Audrey’s game.  There were aces, forehands, backhands, and it all summed up in a neat little package of 0 and 1.  Well played Audrey.

Maggi…Senior Maggi.  What a turn of events on court 5.  Losing 0 and 5 the first time around, Maggi had her game on.  Serve better, forehand and backhand much more aggressive, but the clincher was simply the confidence Maggi had in her own ability to hit the ball.  Trading serves throughout the first with no signs of letting up…4-4, Tabor holds, 4-5, and Ms. 

Rose (Tabor) earns the break.  Though a let down for the Cowgirl, Maggi came out swinging.  Ms. Rose once more holds, but Maggi strings together 5 in a row, three holds and two breaks.  One more hold from the Lady Spartan. 5-2.  Maggi holds, 6-2.  Quite the decimation of Tabor’s court 5.  To a third set tie breaker.  Once more, even throughout the first 6 points, then Maggi simply pulled away from the Spartan.  5-3.  6-4.  7-5.  8-6.  8-7.  9-7.  10-7.  

4-6, 6-2, 10-7.  

So two matches completed…two wins in coaches pocket, up a set on 2, not yet finished the first set on 3, fierce playing on 4, just entering a tiebreaker on 6.  Looking good.

Then our first loss.  Having played simply stellar tennis, Tran, court 4 ran against a bigger hitter with better angles.  But Tran didn’t just fold.  Up as much as 5-4 in the first, Tabor’s girl applied the pressure and evened it out at 5-5.  Deep balls, corners, baselines, and even a bit of net play to boot, Tran and her counterpart put on a great show.  There were no real weaknesses in play from either side.  Tran’s serve collect a few aces.  The best she has served to date.  But at the end, Tabor pulled this one out with a break in serve in the end of both sets.  There was little to say in the post match chat with coach.  Tran played incredibly well, just narrowly getting edged by a worthy opponent.  5-7, 5-7.

Nicole just finished her first set after 1 hour and 17 minutes on court 3. We will come back to this one later.

Court 2 Annie walked off a winner.  Having lost 1 and 0 the first time, Annie’s mental game was on.  No, Annie doesn’t levitate, rather, she simply plays tennis.  And she well well in her game space today.  After the 5th game of the set without the same result as last time, Tabor’s girl began playing Annie’s game.  Back and Forth…remember a see saw?  This game of attrition greatly favored Annie.  Though still trading serves, Annie had the clear advantage in longer rallies.  Taking a break, Annie takes the first set 6-4.  The second set was a bit more intense.  Annie holding strong Tabor #2 turns it up.  Annie had to play defense, taking a her game shorter overall.  Tabor pounced.  2-2, 2-3, 2-4, 3-4, 3-5.  Match game…but Annie refocused.  Did I tell you how proud I was of her play tonight?  4 games in a row.  Annie wins.  6-4, 7-5.  Well fought victory for this senior.

Let’s check on court number 3…..nope, still playing…and how long was that last changeover?

Shaini, court 6, did outstanding tonight.  Though coming up short overall, she played out of her head and game throughout.  After losing 3-6, 3-6, last time in a good effort, Shaini changed up her entire game.  Battling strong with longer and more consistent points, Shaini held her opponent back from the easier win of last time.  Always on serve through the first set, the matter was settled in a tiebreaker.  5-7.  Wow! Yes wow!  Again, in the second set, Shaini once more kept her opponent back until the last game where the Tabor girl finally broke Shaini’s serve.  6-7 (5-7), 4-6.  Please understand reader, The tabor girl was a much better, player.  Though if you remember from the first time, both of these ladies began during the COVID break…Tabor’s girl just had the better shots across the board.  Shaini was able to match her shot for shot and take her to task before eventually falling by one service game.  Heck of a match Ms. Lal.  Well Done!

Nicole Finally saunters off the court (maybe it was the weakness in the legs) after 2 hours 4 mins of playing time.  No third set…Nicole finished it in two.  7-5, 6-3.  The points were long, the corners earned a couple of new coats of paint from both sides of the net, but it was the slightly more consistent and stronger, more conditioned individual (We are talking about Nicole!  Yeah!!!!) that walked off victorious.  Kudos to Mt Tabor #3 Ms. Ivers.  She was gracious in every shot won or lost.  Nicole couldn’t have asked for a better opponent for tonight.

Leading 4-2 after singles put the cowgirls in an enviable place going into dubs.  With only 1 win to earn and the match clinched, the ladies headed off to the courts.

Maggi and Shaini fell short of the mark…but only by one service game.  Just like in singles, these two, now together, played their minds out.  Holding fast to a bigger hitting, serving, and net play as well, the Cowgirls held them back and kept it on serve throughout the first 11 games of play.  Broken only once, the Spartans held their own serve and won on Court 3.  Cowgirls fall 5-8.

The thing with Mt Tabor is the top six doesn’t really drop off.  1-5 and almost 6, are within a hair’s breath of each other skill wise.  This makes it extremely tough to win on the lower courts.  Yes, the cowgirls held tight and wrangled out two additional wins in singles from last time, but dubs is a whole new ball game for the right teams.

Court 2 and court 1 finished within 7 minutes of each other.  Remember, Cowgirls need 5 wins to secure the match.  

Having started earlier, the Cowgirls (court 2) were still on serve facing 2-3 in the race to 8 (pro-8).  Losing a serve, 2-4….2-5 Tabor holds.  3-5.  Promising, but we needed a win.  The rest of the match, though played well by both sides, showed the dominance of the Tabor girls at the net and in doing so, dictated the points in their favor.  Though the match held close, the crisper play of the Spartans was the difference as they continued their lead - the Cowgirls losing court 2 dubs 4-8.  In the after match chat, coach wasn’t disappointed, rather, impressed by the net play of the cowgirls, the down the line shots they took, and was very impressed with the foot/leg movement throughout the entire match.  Hustle went to the Cowgirls, but the Spartans took home the win.

Tabor has incredible young ladies and great coaching from McDaniel and Pollard.  But tonight, it wasn’t enough to take all three dubs courts.  

Court1…Audrey and Nicole.  Playing near flawless tennis until game 9 of nether match, Audrey and Nicole simply overwhelmed the Spartans on Court one.  Serves were in, deep, angles -> forcing bad returns which were eaten up by the beastly net play of the Cowgirls.  Baseline, yep, had them their too.  Longer, faster, more angled…simply put, The cowgirls won court 1 and in doing so, gave the Cowgirls the overall victory. 

Top down…Simply the best I have seen the Cowgirls gel out on the court in very intensive play.  For the last two seasons Mt Tabor has challenged us and we have answered.  Winning both times last season, but more impressive, after a sound defeat first time out, the Cowgirls rose to the challenge and pulled off an incredibly tough playing and mental win against the Spartans and in doing so, will share the prize of co-conference champions (providing Western and Parkland go our way…..they will)

Let’s Go Cowgirls!

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Cowgirls (SWG) host Mt Tabor Lady Spartans in w tennis’s conference action.

Audrey’s Serb (SW) over Meg Salt (MT) 6-0, 6-1

Annie Vo (SW) over Madison Rabold (MT) 6-4, 7-5

Nicole Sopala (SW) over Chelsea Ivers (MT) 7-5, 6-3

Audrey Lloyd (Mt) over Tran Nguyen (SW) 7-5, 7-5

Maggi mugi (SW) over Ella Rose (MT) 4-6, 6-2, 10-7

Hannah Petty (MT) over Shaini Lal (SW) 7-6(7-5), 6-4

Cowgirls up 4-2 after singles.

Dubs:

Serb/Sopala (SW) over Salt/Rose (MT) 8-3

Rabold/Lloyd (MT) over Vo/Nguyen(SW) 8-4

Ivers/Petty (MT) over mugi/Lal (SW) 8-5

5-4 cowgirls win

And in doing so, cowgirls give the Spartans their first loss of the season as well as becoming co leaders in the race for conference champions of the PT3a.

Cowgirls rise to 6-3 on the season and 3-1 in conference play.

They travel to Parkland on Wednesday.

Thanks for reading and rejoicing with the Cowgirls in their Victory!