Tennis places four at Saturday invite
By Dan Truttschel
Correspondent
The Big Foot-Williams Bay girls tennis team landed one third-place finish and two fourths at Saturday’s seven-team Stoughton Invitational.
Freshman Clare Heckert led the way with a third-place effort at No. 2 singles.
Junior Meredith Heckert at No. 1 singles and the No. 1 doubles team of senior Maddie Palmer and junior Izzy Klesmith finished fourth.
“We had a pretty successful day,” Big Foot assistant coach Dani Lawler said. “The Stoughton Invite is full of some really tough competition.
“While we may not have placed as high as we would have liked, every one of my players got better. We went three sets against some very talented teams and definitely made the matches competitive.”
Clare Heckert opened her day with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Stoughton’s Lydia Brekken, before she fell to St. Joseph sophomore Olivia Czerwonka, 1-6, 1-6.
Heckert bounced back to defeat Middleton’s Elisabeth Boettinger, 6-2, 6-7 (1), 10-7 to finish third.
Meredith Heckert began play with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Middleton’s Kai Heimeman, before she fell to defending WIAA Division 2 state champion Claire Czerwonka, St. Joseph’s, 0-6, 1-6. In the third-place match, she fell 0-6, 1-6 to Stoughton senior Sarah Benoy.
The team of Palmer-Klesmith beat Brookfield Central 6-2, 6-3 in their opening-round matchup, followed by a 2-6, 0-6 loss to Stoughton and a 6-2, 1-6 (8-10) loss to Middleton in the third-place match.
Finishing seventh for the Chiefs were junior Hannah Schmidt at No. 3 singles, 1-2 overall; junior Sara Canche at No. 4 singles, 1-2; and the No. 2 doubles team of senior Lexi Zabrouski and junior Sam Hartwig, 1-2.
Big Foot’s No. 3 doubles team of senior Alyssa Nor and sophomore Claire Beyers went 0-3 on the day, but pushed their St. Joseph’s counterparts to a three sets in the opening round.
“This was such a great match to watch,” Lawler said. “They played incredibly well and to see them go three sets against St. Joe’s was awesome.”
Big Foot was back in action Thursday afternoon at Jefferson for a Rock Valley Conference dual meet.
Volleyball sweeps Elks
The Big Foot volleyball team made quick work of Elkhorn Sept. 1 with a 25-16, 25-15, 25-9 nonconference home win.
Leaders included Kennedy Hehr (14 kills), Gloria Esarco (13 kills, 9 digs), Kampbell Hehr (38 assists) and Katie Santeler (6 aces).
Big Foot, 11-2 overall, hosted Palmyra-Eagle in a RVC matchup Thursday night.
Demco leads runners
Senior Zanzie Demco finished 10th overall in 21:01.25 at the Cambridge Invitational Sept. 1.
Big Foot finished 11th in the 11-team meet with 244 points. Deerfield-Cambridge won the team title with 32 points, followed by Poynette with 69 and Marshall with 103.
Finishing behind Demco were senior Olivia Briggs, 46th (23:15.13); freshman Samantha Eichmann, 53rd (23:56.24); freshman Maya Torrez, 78th (29:37.71); and freshman Isabel Chisamore, 79th (29:38.63).
Freshman Will Volmar was Big Foot’s only entry in the boys race. He was 93rd in 22:48.41.
