Coach says despite loss making it that far is ‘truly special’
By Dan Truttschel
Correspondent
There never is anything but positives when it comes to a high school athlete and the state tournament.
And that certainly was the case for the Big Foot-Williams Bay trio that traveled to Madison last week.
Williams Bay sophomore Meredith Heckert and the No. 1 doubles team of senior Morgan Grunow and sophomore Izzy Klesmith each split two matches at the Nielsen Tennis Stadium.
“Overall, (all three) played extremely well,” Big Foot coach Christopher Chen said. “I’m proud of how they played loose and relaxed on the first day, when the pressure can sometimes be the highest to get to Friday.”
Heckert, who teamed with Annie McGrail last year to win the Division 2 doubles title, finished at 17-11 after she defeated Ashland senior Haley Thompson 6-2, 6-1, followed by a 3-6, 0-6 loss to Newman Catholic sophomore Laura Larrain.
Larrain eventually finished fifth overall.
The win in the opener was a big step for Heckert, Chen said.
“The first match for her was huge,” he said. “I know there were some nerves being back at state, but in singles this time, and Meredith handled it so well.
“She started off great and hit the ball as well as I’ve seen her. She was peaking at the right time and just ran up against some real tough competition in the second round.”
Chen said Heckert started strong against Larrain, but couldn’t sustain that to the end.
“The second match came down to consistency,” he said. “Meredith was able to handle the pace and placement of her opponent, but was just a little bit less consistent.
“She jumped out to a lead in the first set of that match, but her opponent really stepped up her game in the remainder of the match.”
Grunow-Klesmith (18-7 overall) beat the Wayland team of seniors Madison Jewell and Kate Schulz 6-0, 6-1, but fell to the St. Joseph tandem of seniors Lindsay Thomas and Emily Bauerschmidt 6-7 (4), 2-6.
The opener was a great way to start the state tournament, Chen said.
“Morgan and Izzy have had great chemistry the whole season, and that really helped them in the first match,” he said.
“Morgan was back (at state) for the second time, and this was Izzy’s first time, so I think Izzy was more comfortable knowing Morgan had made it to state before. They played extremely well and relaxed.”
The second match was up for grabs in the first set, before the St. Joseph team took control in the second, Chen said.
“They were just a little bit better at taking control of the net and putting away some key points,” he said. “Again, the girls played awesome. They took the first set to a tiebreaker, but just couldn’t find enough answers to win.”
In the end, the season, Chen’s second at the helm of the program, was another success, he said.
“We took a little time to warm up at the season’s start, but I was really impressed by how the whole team finished,” he said. “We had some of our best wins toward the latter half of the season, and to get two teams to state and have them both get to the ‘Round of 16’ was truly special.”
