By PAUL DELANEY
Staff Reporter
There were a number of things Medical Lake girls' tennis coach Dawn Eliassen learned last week as her team earned a split in a pair of Great Northern League matches.
The biggest lesson, perhaps, was that there's still a lot of room between defending GNL and district champion Clarkston, and the wannabes in the rest of the league.
Medical Lake lost 7-0 to the Lady Bantams last Tuesday but rebounded to defeat Deer Park 6-1 Thursday at home.
“I kind of blocked that one out,” Eliassen said of the Clarkston match. “Our girls, for the most part, played better second sets than first sets. That's always a good thing.”
To give credit to Clarkston, the coach added, “They were exceptionally consistent and did not make any mistakes.”
As an example, Eliassen pointed out, Medical Lake's No. 4 singles' player, Heather Butler, hit the ball 12 times and never got a point. “Most people you can hit the ball back 12 times and you can get three points,” the coach said.
The No. 3 doubles team of Briana Vinson and Jessica Kauffman lost 4-6,6-4 and 1-6. The two were a new pairing at the No. 3 spot, Eliassen noted. “It was a kind of a one-time deal.”
Vinson played well at the net and won a number of points. Kauffman played very consistently from the baseline, the coach said.
Bri Bazo faced off against district champ Elise Rooney for the third time and Eliassen said her No. 1 singles player had her best match in the rivalry, dropping her game 3-6, 2-6.
“Our line-up was pretty scrambled because we were missing people,” Eliassen said. “Megan Waldorf was playing No. 2 singles and that's the first time she's played singles in a year.”
On to Thursday, Eliassen said Deer Park has a new coach and some inexperience. “Sometime those are the hardest players to play against.” The Lady Cards got wins from Bazo (7-5, 6-0) at No. 1, from No. 2 Nissa Van Meter (6-1, 6-2) and No. 4 Danielle Von Lehe, 6-1, 6-0.
Waldorf and Kylie Tareski were together for the first time in this weather-shortened season to form the No. 1 doubles team. “They had a good match,” Eliassen said. “They had to scrap and fight,” winning 6-1, 4-6, 7-5.
The No. 2 and No. 3 doubles played strong and never gave Deer Park an opening, the coach said of Butler and Chelsea Dixon as well as Jessica Kauffman and Jessica McDaniel. Each duo claimed 6-1, 6-0 straight-set victories.
Medical Lake was on the road in Pullman this past Tuesday and is home against West Valley today (Thursday, April 16) at 3:45 p.m.
Paul Delaney can be reached at pdelaney@cheneyfreepress.com
Reader Comments(0)