The Saline Reporter
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Hornets takes second in SHS tourney
Saline also drills Lincoln, Brighton in dual meet action
By Jerry Hinnen, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: April 24, 2008
The Saline girls' tennis team is about to enter the toughest part of its 2008 schedule. But after a solid week of play that saw the Hornets rout Lincoln and Brighton in dual meets and take second in a strong eight-team field at Saturday's Saline Invitational, head coach Andy BeDell believes it's a challenge his team is ready for.
Advertisement
"We're playing virtually every top 10 team in Division 1 over the course of two weeks," he said, "but we're excited. It makes it fun. Every single match is one you have to be ready for. We have to make sure we're mentally prepared.
"But we've been playing well. We've been practicing with a lot of focus and taking care of the things that will allow us to compete with these teams. We're going to be ready."
Saline entered its host tournament ranked fifth in the state and would go on to win 15 matches, and take second ahead of eight-ranked Clarkston and Division 2 No. 10 Battle Creek-Lakeview. Rival Ann Arbor Pioneer took first.
At No. 1 singles, Hornet senior Niki Shipman advanced to the finals with a 6-1, 1-6, 10-7 win (third sets were played as first-to-10 tie-breaks) against North Farmington and a 6-2, 6-3 decision over Greenhills before falling to Lakeview's nationally-ranked Mimi Remynse 3-6, 4-6.
Bethany French bageled her opponent from Dexter 6-0, 6-0 in the first round of the second singles flight, but fell to opponents from Clarkston and Lakeview to place fourth. At third singles, Casey Baxter roared back after losing her first set against Clarkston 6-3 and falling behind 4-1 in the second to win the second set 6-4 and the tiebreak 10-6. She would finish as runner-up, also defeating her opponent from Greenhills 6-0, 6-1.
Fourth singles player Kelli Tice won 6-2, 6-2 over Greenhills and 6-0, 6-1 over Plymouth-Salem for third.
In doubles play, all four Saline team would win two matches each.
No. 1 team Sarah Cowen and Meghan Geiger sandwiched a 3-6, 3-6 loss to Pioneer with wins over Clarkston 6-0, 6-1 and Lakeview 6-0, 6-1. No. 2 doubles team Sarah Sidlow. Kate Wooliscroft beat Salem 6-1, 6-1 and rebounded from a first set loss to Lakeview to win 3-6, 6-1, 10-3.
Meranda Vogt and Alexandra Van Aasche (the latter filling in for the absent Shanna Cooper) defeated Greenhills 6-3, 6-0 and Dexter 6-0, 6-1 in third doubles, and Dayani Waas and Julie Blackhall defeated Clarkston 7-6 (5), 6-0 and Salem 6-0, 6-3 in fourth doubles.
BeDell admitted he would have liked to have pulled out one of the few matches his team had against Pioneer, but was otherwise more than happy with his team's performance.
"We're winning some matches we wouldn't have won last year," he said. "If we're getting down in a set or lose one, they keep fighting. They've been very supportive of each other. It's been great to see."
BeDell added that tournament director Karen Miller did "an amazing job" in handling the all-day affair.
The invitational came on the heels of two easy Saline dual meet wins. The Hornets blanked Lincoln 8-0 April 16, losing a total of three games across all eight flights. Against Brighton a day later, Shipman lost a battle to the Bulldogs' talented Jenny Nalepa 3-6, 4-6, but prevailed in all other flights for the 7-1 win.
French, Baxter and Tice won the remainder of the singles matches without dropping a set. Cowen and Geiger, Sidlow and Woolliscroft, and Waas and Blackhall each won in two sets, while Vogt and Cooper survived a three-setter 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.
Not all stories are guaranteed to appear
online. The Web edition contains a reasonable
sampling of the print edition stories.
For the most complete news coverage, we invite you to
subscribe
to the print edition of the paper.
Expanded
Web
Coverage
Staff Blog, "Inside The Newsroom"
TOP JOBS
