First dual meet begins season shakily for Eagles: Close matches decide meet

REDWOOD FALLS -- The Eagle tennis girls came up short in their first dual meet of the season, losing to Redwood Valley 5-2 Thursday.

In a day of match play that featured two decisive wins for each team, three matches went down to three sets. According to coach Pat Reedy, playing and winning three-set matches has been a strength for New Ulm, but that eluded the Eagles Thursday.

One of those three-set matches pitted junior Jenny Pugh against Redwood senior Kate Maland, who won 6-3, 0-6, 4-6.

Sophomore Liz Reedy captured one of the two New Ulm team points, beating senior Alecia Prins 6-4 and 6-4 at No. 2 singles. Patricia Dauer and Jayme Curry both took losses at three and four singles.

The other two close ones were in doubles. Emily Pearson and Alex Harsha lost to sophomores Ana Johnson and Caitlin Maguire 4-6, 6-3 and 4-6 at No. 2 doubles. At No. 3 doubles, juniors Katie MacAulay and Tiffany Corbett lost to freshmen Kim Kahlhof and Jackie Christensen 2-6, 7-6 (9-7), and 4-6.

"We fought back and were pressuring our opponents, but in all three close matches, we lost a service break and Redwood held on for 6-4 final set scores," Reedy said. "We are still learning about ourselves as competitors, as well as playing doubles with new partners in an attempt to find the right chemistry."

Kelsey Langholz and Megan VanRoekel seemed to have good chemistry, decisively beating Lily Madsen and Kristina Schneider 6-0 and 6-1 at No. 1 doubles.

"We are excited about improving and look forward to playing three strong teams in Austin on Saturday," he said.

The Eagles (0-1) will begin play in Austin at 9 a.m. Saturday.

In junior varsity action, the Eagles also lost to Redwood Valley, 6-2.

At No. 1 singles, freshman Alex Leverson won 10-2, and on the doubles side, freshmen Lisa Saari and Rachel Mathowetz won 10-3.