Manchester Tennis Defeats Columbia City
Manchester tennis continued its winning ways Friday as they resumed a match halted by rain on April 10th.
Columbia City withdrew at 2 singles with Myla Crozier already winning 4-0 and their player nursing a nagging injury. Bethany Penrod won her match at two singles for a second Lady Squire point. After her previous 5-0 lead, Penrod would win the set 6-0 and control the points to easily win set two 6-2. Sarah Kerlin played well against an athletic player in which her style didn’t match up to in her 2-6,4-6 loss. Manchester’s team depth picked up the team win as the 2 doubles team of senior Hailey Krom and sophomore Kate Schroll played great tennis winning 6-4,6-3 versus quality opponents. They especially closed out each set by taking the final crucial games. The most watched match of the night was at 1 doubles as Carleigh Blevins and Addison Brubaker faced talented twins from Columbia City. Manchester trailed 4-5 in set one but rallied to lead 6-5. After dropping a game for 6-6, Manchester won the tiebreaker (first to 7 points) by an 8-6 count. In set two each team traded leads and once again were 6 games apiece when Columbia City would take a long tiebreaker 10-8.
Manchester shook off the tentative play and focused on individual points, creating more positive energy, and swinging more freely to more easily win set three 6-1 for the 4-1 team win. In JV play all matches were played as doubles to account for the large team sizes. Winning duos for Manchester were the following: Chase Blevins & Maggie Onderko-White 8-3, Ava Baker & Marley Bellinger 8-1, Katie Jenkins & Ella Bradley 8-3, Lexie Nichols & Ruby Martin 8-2, Haley Betten & Sophia Anglin 8-2, and Adrianna Escudero & Tallulah Gawthrop 8-2. JV seniors Alexa Weaver, Carrie Hoffmeyer, and Isabelle Anguilm all played great tennis in narrow losses in perhaps their final high school matches. Manchester travels to Lewis Cass on Monday for their inaugural TRC matchup before playing their final home match Tuesday against Wabash.
