The high school girls tennis season is under way across the Upper Peninsula.
On Monday, after a week of practice, the Escanaba Eskymos beat the Gladstone Braves, 5-3, at Pfotenhauer Park in Gladstone. The Eskymos took all four doubles flights, while the Braves won three of the four singles flights.
The following is from Escanaba Coach Chris Ogren. All of the scores are posted down below.
"We have several returning players this year as well as a few newcomers. Our initial lineup will have 7 Seniors, 3 Juniors and 2 Freshmen.
Starting at the top, Senior, Anna Martin, was able to cruise to a 6-0, 6-0 win at #1 singles. Anna has put in a lot of work over the summer and it showed today. We were unable to come away with a win at any of the other singles spots today, but all three of our girls played hard at those spots. Of note was a battle between two Freshmen at #4 singles. Amelia Alimenti was making her tennis debut and looked really solid for her first tennis match
After losing the first set 6-1, she played much better in the second set before eventually losing it 6-3. On the doubles side we were able to win all four matches. Sophie Hill and Bella Noblet didn’t play their best tennis today, but they were able to clean things up in the third set and come away with a win at #1 doubles. Claire Jacobsen and Lily Benetti had a very decisive win today at #2 doubles. They both played the net aggressively and served well, and that tends to be a combination that leads to wins. At #3 doubles Emma Landwehr and Cora Dittrich played a really fun match.
Both teams played the net very well and the second set was especially competitive. Emma and Cora did just enough in the end to close out the second set and start the season off with a win. The final match of the day had all of the eyes in the end, and that was at #4 doubles. As the #4 doubles match was happening, the other 7 matches had already finished and Escanaba had won 4 matches while Gladstone had won 3. That meant that for this meet to end in an Escanaba win, Alexa DeGrand and Ava Jackson would have to win their match. Both girls ran hard for every ball and played the net very well. In the end it was just enough for a 7-5, 6-4 win and clinched the meet for Escanaba
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