By Dave Pauslen
Correspondent
It was a very busy six days for the Whitewater High School girls tennis team.
Starting Aug. 15, and ending Monday, the Whippet girls played 10 matches, winning nine of them in convincing fashion. The only loss came Friday to Baldwin-Woodville by a score of 5-2.
Whitewater Quad No. 1
On Aug. 15, Whitewater hosted a quad featuring teams from Lake Mills, West Salem and Westosha Central.
The girls defeated Westosha Central, Lake Mills and West Salem all by 6-1 scores.
“The longest quad we have ever had, lasting over eight hours,” head coach Tim Nelson said. “For our first matches of the year I was very pleased with how we played.”
Michala Schramm, at No. 1 singles, and Stephanie Nelson and Morgan Nathan, at No. 1 doubles, had little trouble sweeping their opponents.
“(They) were very solid throughout the day,” coach Nelson said.
Chelsea Niemuth, at No. 2 singles, also won all three matches. The toughest was a three-set win over Westosha Central 6-2, 5-7, 10-5.
“(She) played some of the best tennis I have ever seen her play,” Nelson said. “Her last match she got down in the second set and the tie break and fought back to win.”
At No. 4 singles, Kacie Snyder had a hard-fought three-set win (4-6, 6-2, 12-10) in her opening match, but had little trouble in winning the next two matches to go 3-0 on the day.
“As a freshman, I was very pleased with Kacie,” Nelson said. “Her tennis doesn’t always look pretty, but she is scrappy and fights for every point and just wears people down.”
Emily Markham failed to win any matches at No. 3 singles, but Nelson noted it was her first ever varsity action.
“She played very well, pushing sets in both of her matches to tie breaks,” Nelson noted.
Grace Tisdale played the third match at No. 3 singles and also lost.
Erika Levine and Dani Dolan, at No. 2 doubles, opened with a three-set win and then sailed through the next two matches.
“Erika and Dani are going to cost me what little hair I have left as they are not the fastest starters, but they keep fighting back,” Nelson said.
At No. 3 doubles, Tori Samuels and Amanda Mack had no trouble, losing only six games total in their three matches.
“Tori and Amanda did a great job in their first ever varsity matches, playing solid doubles from the very first game,” Nelson added.
Altoona Invite
“We had a pretty good three days of tennis and an even better three days of team building,” Nelson said of this event that spanned three days, Aug. 16-18.
Whitewater opened with a 7-0 win over Black River Falls, before falling 5-2 to Baldwin-Woodville.
Their next three matches the Whippets all won by 6-1 scores over Durand, Amery and Mondovi.
“On the tennis side, we saw many things that we need to work on,” Nelson said.
Schramm, at No. 1 singles, and the No. 3 doubles pairing of Samuels and Mack, went undefeated over the three days, winning all five of their matches.
“Michala pretty much dictated her matches, but even she saw many things that she can’t wait to work on,” Nelson said. “Tori and Amanda played very well all weekend. They did what they needed to win matches and started to work on their weaknesses.”
At No. 1 doubles, Nelson and Nathan won four of their five matches, losing only to a Baldwin-Woodville pair they was made up of their No. 1 and No. 2 singles players.
“(It was) a team that went to state last year and we just couldn’t stop them,” Nelson said. “They really pointed out some of our weaknesses and in the long run this could be very good for us.”
Levine and Dolan, at No. 2 doubles, went 3-2 overall, as did Niemuth at No. 2 singles.
Nelson used two different players at each No. 3 and No. 4 singles.
Whitewater Quad No. 2
Although the Whippets sailed through this quad defeating Burlington Catholic Central and Columbus by identical 7-0 scores, Nelson was not happy with two of the teams in the event.
“One team shows up with no No. 1 doubles team (Catholic Central) and Beloit Memorial just didn’t show up,” Nelson said. “This means my No. 1 doubles team only got one match and everyone else only got two.”
Nelson noted that due to WIAA rules he is unable to get a new match to replace the one they were unable to play due to the forfeiture by Beloit Memorial.
In the two matches the Whippet girls did play, Nelson said the team worked on being more aggressive and putting matches away.
“I felt that we did that,” he said.
Niemuth had the match of the day against Columbus. After winning the opening set 6-2, the Columbus girl took the second set 6-2. Niemuth fell behind 9-7 in the tiebreaker, facing double match point, but fought back to win the next four points and the match victory.
Schedule
The East Troy quad, which was interrupted by rain a week ago, will be completed on Friday, Aug. 24.
Next week, the Whippet girls will host Edgerton in a Rock Valley Conference dual on Thursday, Aug. 30, at 4:15 p.m.
