Lady Squires Tennis Gains Control Of TRC
The Manchester tennis team defeated Tippecanoe Valley in girls tennis 4-1 Monday to go 5-0 in TRC and 8-3 overall.
The singles players set the pace with dominating performances. Senior Kelsey Eichenauer would win at #1 without surrendering a game. “Kelsey was really locked in and kept a nice mix of consistency and powerful winners.” Sophomore Halle Briner also served up a shutout in the opening set 6-0 before winning set two 6-1. “Halle worked on her all around game. She mixed in net play with touch shots and accurate corner strokes.” In 3 singles play sophomore Eva Bazzoni raced through her match giving up very few points. Bazzoni would go up 4-1 before winning the final 8 games for a 6-1,6-0 win. “Eva was really special tonight. She made great decisions of when to attack and when to patiently place shots to set up for the winner.” In #2 doubles action junior Rebekah Pyle paired with freshman Alyssa Marvel to win 6-2,6-3. After a 3-2 start, Pyle and Marvel would rip some solid serve returns and play smarter tennis to win 8 of the next 9 games. “Up 5-1, they let two games slip away with some errors, but Rebekah would step up and serve out the match with confidence. I really liked the way Alyssa moved around the court and the smart strategy I saw from these two ladies.” At 1 doubles, seniors Anna Osborne and Halle Wampler had an off night. They started up 2-1 but struggled to execute enough good shots to keep their momentum against an aggressive Lady Viking duo. After losing set one 3-6, and being down 2-3, a burst of energy produced a 6-3 set two win. The second set would have Manchester win game 1, lose 2 games, and tie it at 2-2. After Tipp Valley stretched the lead to 5-2, Manchester would rally for 4 straight games and a 6-5 lead. Valley would force a 6-6 tiebreaker and lead throughout that for a 7-4 point tiebreaker win for a 7-6 game final set. The 4-1 Manchester win sets up a Wednesday showdown with conference rival Peru at 5pm. The Lady Squires will also celebrate their 8 wonderful seniors.
In JV play Manchester would win 7-2. Like varsity, the singles players would shine with easy victories. Alexa Donathan (8-1) hit excellent groundstrokes and many winners. Roma Kaur (8-0) played steady, smart tennis with improved serves and well hit forehands and backhands. Abbie Wampler (8-0) also showed skill in hitting many winning shots mixed in with consistent shorts at the correct times. Doubles victories came from Morgan Stroud & Kayla Hippensteel (8-4), Brylee Kerr & Sarah Metzger (8-2), Haylie Miller & Ema Mercova (8-5), and Addie Hacker & Catherine Ondrla (8-0). This was Manchester’s first home match after 4 rainouts. Upcoming matches are all home including Peru Wednesday, state ranked FW Carroll Thursday, and Whitko Friday all at 5pm.
