BY RICH PALZEWIC
CORRESPONDENT
ASHWAUBENON – It wasn’t easy, but the Bay Port girls tennis team snuck by Ashwaubenon 4-3 on September 26 in a Fox River Classic Conference dual at Pioneer Park.
With the win, the Lady Pirates won their fourth FRCC match in a row to finish the season at 6-3 in the conference, while Ashwaubenon finishes at 3-6.
“We were missing a few girls, but it was a close match,” said Bay Port coach Steve Matuszewski. “Ashwaubenon has really improved in the last couple of years.
“We are very happy with a 6-3 conference record. I think our difficult non-conference schedule was frustrating for our girls early on, but at the end it really helped…this match in particular. Even in our three conference losses, they were all by 4-3 margins, so we were in every match.”
The Pirates won fairly easily at No. 1, 2 and 3 singles, and also won a hard-fought match at No. 1 doubles to get the needed four points for the victory.
The Jaguars won at No. 4 singles and No. 2 and 3 doubles.
“We knew going in that Bay Port went singles strong in the match,” said Ashwaubenon assistant coach Raelynn Wingert. “I knew we had to get at least two of the three doubles matches to make it a match, and we did that.
“We are excited for subsectionals/sectionals. Our No. 2 doubles team is playing really solid. I’m very confident with our singles style – counterpunching and getting the ball back and making the other team make the mistakes. If we can get some decent seeds, I feel like we are kind of an underdog team going into the postseason.”
The WIAA subsectional and sectional tournaments will be held on October 2 and 4 respectively at Western Racquet, with play beginning each day at 9:00 AM.
Bay Port 4, Ashwaubenon 3
Singles
No. 1 – Melyna Ramirez, BP, def. Marisa Marohl, 6-2, 6-3; No. 2 – Rachel Ceaglske, BP, def. Bitz Steinhoff, 6-2, 6-1; No. 3 – Sidney Kropp, BP, def. Aubree Helstad, 6-3, 6-1; No. 4 – Emily Delaurelle, ASH, def. Cathleen Graber, 6-2, 6-3.
Doubles
No. 1 – Emily Wick-Devan Perry, BP, def. Peyton Wright-Jayme Kiser, 6-3, 6-4; No. 2 – Caylee Behnke-Maddy Coopmans, ASH, def. Sophie Martell-Jordanne Hanson, 6-0, 6-2; No. 3 – Addison Stromberg-Kennedy Conradt, ASH, def. Linnea McClintock-Alexandra Lindner, 7-5, 6-1.
Email Rich ([email protected]) or find him on Twitter (@richpalzewic).
