By Kevin Cunningham
Sports Correspondent
On Sept. 15, the Whitewater High School girls tennis team got a rematch with East Troy after defeating them earlier this season. Whippets head coach Tim Nelson knew it would be a battle this time around, though, since East Troy was missing a couple of its top players the first time the two matched up.
Of the four singles matches, Whitewater won three of them, as the only loss came in No. 1 singles against East Troy’s top player who made it to the second round of the state tournament last season. The highlight of the match came at No. 2 singles, according to Nelson.
“After losing the first set 5-7 in a tie breaker, Amanda was down 2-5 in games before she staged a great comeback,” Nelson said. “She rolled off five straight games to come back and win the set and then stayed tough throughout the third set super tie-breaker winning the last three points to win the match.”
Despite taking three-of-four singles matches, East Troy rallied back and came out victorious in the meet as a whole, defeating the Whippets, 4-3. All three doubles matches went East Troy’s way. Two of their doubles teams are undefeated so far in 2016.
“At No. 1 doubles I was impressed with how Maggie and Hannah came out and played the second set, they came out much more aggressively and took several games,” Nelson said.
“Our strength is our singles, all our girls are very comparable and most teams can’t say that, so we get stronger as we go down. Ali played one of her most consistent matches of the year, keeping her game at her level throughout the match.”
Following the close loss to East Troy, the Whippets’ next match came against Big Foot/Williams Bay on Sept. 20. Another tight, 4-3 match ensued, but Nelson’s team came out on top this time.
The strength of the Whippets may be in its singles players, but of the four matches, the team split 2-2 against Big Foot/Williams Bay. What won the Whippets the meet was on the doubles side in this case, taking two of the three matches.
Nelson attributed the victory to his team’s overall depth. The win lead the Whippets to the conference tournament, Thursday at UW-Whitewater.
Following the tournament, the team will have one match against Wilmot on Sept. 29 remaining before it begins WIAA Sub Sectional play, beginning Oct. 3.
