For The Tribune
Despite winning a tightly contested No. 1 doubles match, the Trinity Lutheran girls tennis team struggled to find success as they fell to Shawe Memorial 4-1 on Monday.
The Cougars’ No. 1 doubles team of Allison Hackman and Sydney Stuckwisch won their match in two sets; however, the second set took more than an hour before a winner was determined.
In a tiebreaker second set, the Cougars tandem prevailed for a 6-4, 6-6 (7-5) victory.
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The No. 1 duo faced a stubborn Hilltopper team, who had an answer each time the Cougars tried to finish the match.
The Cougars pulled ahead 5-3 in the second, then Shawe won their serve and followed by breaking Trinity’s serve to tie the score at 5-5.
The Hilltoppers then preceded to win their serve again, moving ahead 6-5. The Cougars held their serve and forced the tie-breaker with the score 6-6.
Hackman and Stuckwisch moved ahead 6-1 in the tie-breaker, but the Hilltoppers came back again and won the next four points to make it 6-5. The Cougars didn’t panic, and broke the Hilltopppers’ serve to seal the win.
With a young singles cast, the Cougars did not fare well on this night.
At No. 1 and No. 2 singles, junior Aurora Willman fell 6-0, 6-0 and sophomore Kendyll Austin was also blanked.
Freshman Courtney Barker was able to manage to win a pair of games in the first set, but went on to fall 6-2, 6-0.
“Our first, second, and third singles did not play well tonight,” Trinity Lutheran coach Mark Voss said. “I don’t know if it was the weather or what. We had an off night and we need to learn from that and come back ready to play.”
At No. 2 doubles, senior Shelby Nierman and junior Maddie Lucas went down 6-0, 6-3.
“No. 1 doubles pulled out the match, although they scared me,” Voss said. “They had to go to a tiebreaker to close out the second set, but that’s good because it’s the first time we’ve had to do that this year. While the Cougars had an off night, they’ll get little time to rest.”
The Cougars move to 1-4 on the season and will play at home again Wednesday against Hauser.