Lady Squires Grab Sole Possession Of TRC

The Manchester tennis team was playing for sole possession of the TRC Wednesday when Peru came to town. The Squires would respond with a 4-1 win over the Tigers.

The first Lady Squire win was from Eva Bazzoni at 3 singles. Eva started strong with a 6-1 opening set. After struggling with the windy conditions, Bazzoni found herself down 3-4 but regained focus to take the final three games and the set 6-4. Eva Bazzoni now has a 11-4 singles record (losing to two state ranked teams).

Next off was Halle Briner at 2 singles. Briner needed patience and some longer rallies to win 6-0, 6-2 against an athletic opponent. Halle ups her personal record to 12-3 on the season (all three loses to state ranked teams).

The clinching victory came at 2 doubles as Rebekah Pyle and Alyssa Marvel won 6-2, 6-3. The Manchester duo led 3-2 in set one and closed with 4 nice games. In set two they led 4-2, and then 5-3 when Rebekah stepped up and served a big game to seal the match. Pyle would hit many well placed groundstrokes on the night while Marvel ruled the net.

At one doubles Manchester’s seniors Anna Osborne and Halie Wampler would again struggle to win some big points and narrowly lose and first set tiebreaker 6-7(4-7). Manchester led 2-0 with a favorable add game point to go 3-0 and later led 5-4 and 6-5. In set two the wind continued to disrupt Manchester’s power game as they lost 4-6.

Next, all eyes turned to senior Kelsey Eichenauer who played a Peru player she has never beaten before. After losing set one 3-6, Eichenauer would begin to adjust strategy and style and gain traction in set two. Kelsey would lead 1-0, 2-1, 3-2, 4-3, 5-4, 6-5 before holding serve at love for the 7-5 set. Set three was all Eichenauer. Leading 2-0, Kelsey would win a long deuce game to go 3-0. After a Peru game win, Kelsey would counter to lead 4-1. The final two games reflected the match with Eichenauer controlling the points using corner groundstrokes, powerful winners, patient long points, and opportunistic net volleys.

In JV action seniors Morgan Stroud and Briley Spann paired together to win 8-2 in doubles while seniors Brylee Kerr and Cassie Newman won 8-3. Lillian Myers played solid singles battling back in a 4-8 loss. Also winning were freshman doubles team Kayla Hippensteel and Abbie Wampler for a 3-2 JV victory.