The Lady Villains of Bishop McGuiness overtake the Cowgirls in a delightfully close match 5-4 in non-conference tennis action

Must have been the coaching.

Coach chuckles at his own writing knowing full well how ludicrous of a statement this is…in part.

Clearly, if the Reader has kept up their reading assignments from just past midnight last night, they know what a tough match Page was for the ladies.  Day/Match 2 of a three day, three match stretch and Coach continued his coaching thing….reminding the ladies of their own playing prowess, speaking great into them, bringing their minds back to today’s match with smaller sub notes for each of the players as to their specific playing styles, strengths, and of course, a gentle reminder of what to look for and more importantly, how to defend against the Dark Arts…..As you may have guessed…Coach is actually  Bartemius Crouch Junior, disguised as Alastor Moody, disguised as Murphy.  [If you didn’t get this joke, you are a muggle and as such, I am not allowed to explain it any further].

The Dark Arts in this case is any shot we have trouble with on the regular….they can manifest themselves as hard and /or deeper hitting, kick spins or serves, too low of a ball (drop shots included), too high of a ball (sky balls included), and general play inconsistent to what the ladies are accustomed. 

Let’s get into the matches now!

Audrey bounced back beautifully on Court 1.  Able to stretch her legs and playing abilities once more without being boxed in by yesterday’s opponent, Audrey went on a tear from the get-go taking the first set 6-0.  In the second, up 4 nil, a crisis of belief in one’s own serve set her back a game.  But focus/talent/and her inner awesomeness prevailed, pushing her over this small hump and onward to victory 6-1.  Don’t worry reader, Alastor, er, I mean Coach had a “chat” with Audrey afterward.  She is fine now.

Lauren ran afoul of a talented Lady Villain (no, seriously, this is their mascot…the Villain…..something about their motto and Latin….and I lost focus myself.  Honestly, Coach forgot to take his medication until later in the evening).  Still tending to her ankle, Lauren held but one service game in the second.  Points were played but little Lauren could do was enough to stop the win-bound train.  We continue to heal and hopefully will return to full capacity in short time.  0 and 1.

Anna played an exceptional game…..beginning in the 7^th game of the court 3 match.  Again, Defense against the Dark Arts.  All I hear was some utterance of a non-English language….sounded like Latin come from Anna’s side of the court…and Anna’s game almost instantly returned.  Seriously Reader, serve was on, forehand looked beautiful once more, and the back spin took on a life of its own.  Down 2-5 to her opponent, Anna mounted a comeback with 5 straight games.  It will be said her opponent began complaining about her playing wrist about this same time claiming the injury was due to a chance encounter with a Boggart…or was it an Acromantula?  Coach cannot remember at this time of night.  Apologies.

Back to Anna!

So…she won the 1^st set in wonderful fashion.  The second set began down a game.  Think of it as a brief wiggle as the hope of her opponent began to fade.  In tennis we often see a small (sometimes larger) resurgence in the second set of the nearly vanquished one once beaten in the last set.  But Anna held her own.  Trading service games twice each, Anna set the pace and spread the distance required for another resurgence to where all the Lady Villain could do is rally (briefly) and once out of footwork or stroke range, overpower the shot and watch it sail long.  Anna takes the win 7-5, 6-2. 

And if you are keeping track, the #3 Lady Villain’s wrist is resting.  Ice was administered, Liam (Wonder-boy) trainer supreme was called and was able to look it over.  Coach thinks he overheard Liam say the tentative diagnosis was a Scapholunate ligament injury of the upper mid rotation exacerbated by a potential triangular fibro cartilage complex (TFCC) injury of the lunotriquetral ligament.  As Coach grows older, his hearing is also going.  Liam could just have easily said overuse and a ligament strain.  Coach is pretty sure Liam stated one of those two diagnoses.  Let’s just wish the Lady Villain a speedy recovery and healing.

Rachael began well.  Quickly earning her serve and playing her game.  Down 1-2 in the first, Rachael continued to expand her shots…moving her opponent left and right…but the Lady Villain had her own plans on the match.  She had the audacity to track down most ALL of Rachael’s shots.  And so went the first set.  Rachael delivered impressive play, though not as deep as her shots have dictated in the past, but consistent…the Lady Villain just had answers for most.  In the end the first set saw the Lady Villain pushing Rachael to make consistent well-placed strokes 5, 6, and 7 times over…back and forth….it was lack of consistency that took the 1^st set away from a Cowgirl win.  So, Rachael began the second set by going on the offensive, extending out her play, aiming for deeper, well placed corners and sidelines, but so too did the Lady Villain and once she found her groove….and her groove was a much bigger game than in the 1^st set, going bigger, deeper and more varied hitting ….this spelled doom for Rachael’s prospects.  Rachael’s play was solid and she tried everything in her toolkit she had.  Coach saw nothing left on the table that Rachael did not try and in the end, the Lady Villain simply had a better game.  Rachael’s score – 2 and 0.

Both Betsy and Jada had a time with their respective opponents.  Both courts saw near parity in each other’s level of play.

Betsy and her opponent held or equally broke each other throughout the 1^st set.  With her opponent serving and holding fist, she had the game advantage forcing Betsy to hold her own serve to stay within striking distance.  3-4, 4-4, 4-5, 5-5, 5-6, 6-6. 6-7 ?!?!  wait!  What?  Error in play.  Score was brought back to 6 all and play resumed in the Tiebreaker. 

1-0

1-2

1-2

And Coach had a nerve wrecking time watching and keeping score….so he walked over a court and watch the play unfold.

3-7 in the tiebreaker.  No, the numbers didn’t push our way. 

Slightly disheartened, Betsy began play again, but this time for the second set. 

Can you guess…..on serve throughout.  Down 1-2, while running to a shot, Betsy falters, twisting her ankle and hitting the court.  NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Reader, this was not in the plans I had placed on file with the “local planning department in Alpha Centauri for 50 of your Earth years”.  Wesney (also a coach….a very wise coach) and Liam had this under control.  A tape job…with, you guessed it! “Magic Tape!”.  A boo boo band aid on her knee and a ankle embracement of prewrap (also magical) and tape, and Betsy was back to playing.

2-2, 2-3, 2-4, 2-5, 3-5, 4-5, 5-5…Coach was salivating for another tiebreaker….and the Lady Villain held…5-7 in the second.  Betsy came up just short of her goal.  6-7 (3-7), 5-7.

Though saddened by the result of the game, Coach was very elated at the first real test Betsy had against her BMHS tennis twin.  Shot for shot, she was there…again, a bit more consistency and it would have been Betsy on top instead of the Lady Villain.  Kudos to an incredible match.

Jada also too the long route to the end of her game.  Playing her game, Jada and her opponent held through the six games of the match before Jada took advantage of the opportunities presented with short balls and really pushed the Lady Villain into making poor shot selections and executions.  Holding, breaking, and holding once more Jada takes the first set 6-3.  Weary of the second set surge, Jada could only watch while her opponent with deeper, harder, and had more corners than could be answered.  Jada was nearly engulfed in the wake of her opponent coming out of the gate of the second set.  Having never played a tiebreaker save for practice, Wesney took to the courts to guide the ladies of Court 6 through the nuances of tiebreaker play. 

It was tight.  Shots called and potentially miscalled, but in the end, Jada came out ahead.  6-3, 1-6, 1-0 (10-8).  Jada won her match and in doing so, brought equal the game score going into dubs.  The Cowgirls, under the care of , had never came close to rivaling

Remember, a match’s winner is decided by who can reach 5 individual contests (or more) before the other team.  Tied at 3 all means someone must win two of the three dubs to take the match.

Serb and McGinnis (Audrey and Anna), though beginning the same time as court 3 (Betsy was still playing her marathon match), was the last court off.  In truth, these two began slow.  Slow as in bad.  Down 1-2 and play not to the required level….Coach was not nervous.  Then court 1 clicked.  The switch had been thrown and these two played near seamless tennis.  Failing to break only twice more in the match, these two collected the requisite 7 more games to take Court 1 8-4.

Unfortunately, even with #3 Lady Villain’s injury and the moving up of another player, the Cowgirls #2 and #3 courts had little to vanquish let alone, stem the tide of rising waters and their victory ship sank. 

No!  It wasn’t that bad.  They were simply outplayed.  Rachael and Betsy on #2 played hard….working the middle and trying to lob, the Lady Villains dominated net play and allowed few shots to find their path beyond their chosen part of the court.  Breaking briefly to chat with Coach, these two listened and having the toolkit to do so, executed the down the line shots and retried the lob game.  Scratching out one more game through well placed shots, the Lady Villains adjusted, closing that door of opportunity for the Cowgirls and finished out the game. 

So too for Court #3 of Jada and Caroline Church.  On both courts the opponents played far better together than they did as separate singles players.  They had out number and punched their ticket to victory by owning the net play and providing answers to nearly ever shot the Cowgirls could offer. 

Was Coach sad?  No.  He knew, even by playing all out, it would be a close match.  The Lady Villains were the more consistent and in dubs, the better team tonight.  This was the best showing against Bishop McGuiness the Cowgirls have shown under Coach’s tenure.  In the wrap up after play, Coach extolled the Cowgirls’ play, yes, even for the exhibition matches.  From top down, they all played their respective games.  And without exception, if things turned a bit soured on the court, Coach was able to impart wisdom, but more so, the Cowgirls listened and were able to adjust slightly.  No, not to take the wins neccessarily, but to earn a few more games in the process.  To play and lose to a better team…o.k.  To lose to a team where we left stones unturned in search of a victory….that just leaves a nasty filmy taste in one’s mouth.

Tonight, the Cowgirls can hold their heads high knowing they played their entire toolkit.  We will continue to work on out consistency, down the line shots, and a deep, workable lob to insert into our play as the season continues.

Thank you for joining us in your reading adventures.  Coach welcomes all of the SW Fall sports teams to write short(er) but more epic tales of their adventures as time allows.  He cannot wait to read!

The Cowgirls play host to the Lady Hornets (3^rd in the series of three for this week) Wed 8/24 beginning at 5pm.  As much fun as the required PD will be, reserve some joy and come support before school consumes most of your waking time and dreams.

We hope to see you at 5!

Box scores:

Audrey Serb (SW) over Izzy Ross (BM) 6-0, 6-1

Nina Holton (BM) over Lauren Harris (SW) 6-0, 6-1

Anna McGinnis (SW) over Allie Dennen (BM) 7-5, 6-2

Adelaide Jernigan (BM) over Rachel Dee (SW) 6-2, 6-0

Sarah Pulliam (BM) over Betsy Chen (SW) 7-6 (7-3), 7-5

Jada Speight (SW) over Kate Dennen (BM) 6-3, 1-6, 1-0 (10-8)

Dubs

Serb/McGinnis (SW) over Ross/Holton (BM) 8-4

Jernigan/Pulliam (BM) over Dee/Chen (SW) 8-2

K Dennen/Lily Winters (BM) over Speight/Caroline Church (SW) 8-2

Lady Villains win a tight match 5-4

Villains rise to 3-0 on the season

Cowgirls drop to 0-1, 2-2

Cowgirls host the lady Hornets of Western Guilford wed, 8/24 starting at 5pm