Gladstone tennis trips Kingsford; Escanaba squeaks by West Iron
Trending
GLADSTONE -- Mother Nature was indecisive Wednesday afternoon over whether the Gladstone Braves and Kingsford Flivvers would be able to play tennis at all in Gladstone.
Rain showers forced a delay, but once the courts dried, the teams got after it as Gladstone took the win 7-1.
For the Braves, it was the second scheduled match of the day. The first -- against the Munising Mustangs -- got underway but was cut short by rain at about its midway point.
"The weather was very precarious all day," said Braves coach Ryan Barron. "The girls are starting to hit their stride," he added. "They are finally piecing it together."
Despite the tricky conditions, the Braves had fun according to No. 1 doubles member Montgomery Pepin, who enjoyed playing against Kingsford's Macy Holmes and Maggie Menghini alongside teammate Emma Wagner.
"Even though the weather was terrible, it ended up being a good day," Pepin said. "Our opponents were really fun to play and played well."
Alesha Marenger of Gladstone and the Flivvers Meagan Dooley had an entertaining match at No. 2 singles that went the way of Marenger 2-0 (6-3, 7-5).
The sole Kingsford win came at No. 4 doubles courtesy of Lexie Vross and Ellyce Doenier.
"Lexie and Ellyce had another tie break match," said Flivvers coach Tracy Rutter. "That seems to be their new normal. I'm proud of them for pulling off another win."
Rutter also noted the performance of Ashlyn Blaskowski at No. 1 singles, who came up short (6-1, 7-5) against Gladstone's Addison Trombley.
"Ashlyn played another solid match," she said.
The Flivvers will host the Kingsford Invitational on Friday.
Singles
No. 1 -- Trombley, G, def. Blaskowski, 6-1, 7-5; No. 2 -- Marenger, G, def. Dooley, 6-3, 7-5; No. 3 -- Schone, G, def. Olkkonen, 6-3, 6-3; No. 4 -- Sanville, G, def. Rizzo, 6-1, 6-3.
Doubles
No. 1 -- Wagner-Pepin, G, def. Holmes-Menghini, 6-1, 6-1; No. 2 -- Krouth-Buckley, G, def. Cram-Wilcox, 6-2, 6-3; No. 3 -- Rosa-Herioux, G, def. Rutter-Grubb, 6-3, 6-3; No. 4 -- Doenier-Vross, K ,def. Hanson-Martinez, 7-5, 7-6.
Escanaba 5,
West Iron 3
IRON RIVER -- West Iron County dropped to 2-2 in Great Northern Conference girls tennis, bowing 5-3 to Escanaba on Wednesday.
"Escanaba was able to edge us out on two three-setters, at No. 1 singles and No. 4 singles," said Wykons coach Joe Serbentas.
"We were minus a couple girls in the doubles lineup but played well considering," he added.
Madison Berutti and Aubrey Bice earned a straights set victory for West Iron at No. 1 doubles. Aurora Dahl, at No. 2 singles, and Brynlee Nodurft, at No. 3 singles, got the other two wins.
"I feel like we are improving our consistency at the right time during the season and if we continue to trend upwards we will be a tough out in the tournaments at the end of the season," Serbentas said.
The Wykons, 5-4 overall, are at Ishpeming today.
Singles:
No. 1 – Sophia Derkos, E, def. Kali Applin, 6-2 , 4-6 , 10-4
No. 2 – Aurora Dahl, WIC, def. Natalie Williams, 6-1 , 6-2
No. 3 – Brynlee Nodurft, WIC, def. Lizzy Sliva, 7-5 , 6-2
No. 4 – Sam Manninen, E, def. Kaitlyn Smith, 4-6 , 6-4 , 10-7 ;
Doubles:
No. 1 – Madison Berutti, and Aubrey Bice, WIC, def. Gracie Wickham and Abby Hill, 6-1 , 6-3
No. 2 – Erica Moore and Delaney McIntyre, E def. Lillie Schmutzler and Callista Bortolameolli, 6-3 , 6-1
No. 3 – Sonya Maki and Leslie Purcell, E def. Autumn Smith and Bailey Hoffart, 6-4 , 6-1
No. 4 – Molly VanDamme and Lily Newhouse, E, def. Alex Hansen and Carli Dutcher, 6-0 , 6-0