Lady Pilgrim tennis edged by W. Lafayette
PLYMOUTH — The Plymouth girls’ tennis team hosted District-Ranked West Lafayette at the Mary Beth Hunter Tennis Complex on Saturday, falling by a close 3-2 team score.
The host Pilgrims took the first two completed matches on Saturday. Plymouth’s first point came from senior Sophia Cantero, who won at 2S in straight sets. Then Plymouth’s 1D Team of senior Marisa Langfeldt and sophomore Lydia Wray took the 1D match in competitive straight sets as well.
Plymouth then fell in the final three positions to finish. Sophomore Allison Grobe, making her first appearance in a varsity match, lost at 3S in straight sets. Allison lost the first set 6-2, but was more competitive in the second set, keeping more balls in play and deeper in the court. After being on serve at 3-4 in the second set, Allison fell 6-3.
Plymouth’s 2D team of senior Katelyn Golba and freshman Elly Kruyer then fell in their match in straight sets. With both girls playing in their first Varsity match, Katelyn and Elly lost the first set 6-2 and trailed 5-2 in the second set, before settling in and battling back to a 5-5 tie in the set. They would eventually fall 7-5 for the second West Lafayette point.
That left Plymouth senior Mia Hartley on court with the team score knotted at 2-2. Mia, who’s currently in a tight battle (with teammate Sophia Cantero) for the Plymouth #1 Singles position, got the nod at #1 Singles Saturday and performed admirably. Playing against an All-District level opponent, Mia lost a competitive first set 6-2, filled with many quality points and deuce games. Mia responded in the second set, taking 3-0 and 5-2 leads, before ultimately falling 7-5. Mia’s opponent really stepped up her game towards the end of the second set.
The match will serve as a valuable learning experience for the Pilgrims, and they will look to rebound when they host a quality Valparaiso team on Monday.
“Experience at this point in the season is so important,” said Plymouth coach Brad Haeck. “While we do have experience in some of the higher positions, we are certainly lacking experience in others.”
“This was West Lafayette’s third match and our first match, so I think that was a slight disadvantage for us, and overall, we haven’t been outside much either. But credit to West Lafayette, as they are a solid program year in and year out. Today we gained some experience and saw some good things on all the courts. I think just getting some girls more comfortable in their positions will certainly help as well.”
“I’m proud of how Mia battled throughout her match today against a quality opponent,” said Haeck. “Especially in all the pressure situations and even facing match points, Mia ‘played to win’ throughout the entirety of the match, and played quality tennis and made her opponent earn the win.”
“Marisa and Lydia played a nice first match today at 1D and Sophia did a nice job at 2S as well. In all three matches we lost today, our girls performed better in the second set. I love how those girls (Mia, Allison, Katelyn, and Elly) responded and battled back through some adversity. I’m confident that we will continue to improve.”
Plymouth Varsity/JV will host District-Ranked Valparaiso in a non-conference match on Monday, with a 5:30 PM start.
•W. LAFAYETTE 3, PLYMOUTH 2
at Mary Beth Hunter Tennis Complex
Singles:
- Emma Garringer (WL) beat Mia Hartley 6-2, 7-5
- Sophia Cantero (P) beat Sophie Lee 6-1, 6-1
- Emily Zhou (WL) beat Allison Grobe 6-2, 6-3
Doubles: - Marisa Langfeldt-Lydia Wray (P) beat Nehu Das-Jessica Reingold 6-2, 6-3
- Varshinee Muthukamar-Jruru Liu (WL) beat Katelyn Golba-Elly Kruyer 6-2, 7-5
