New Ulm tennis tops Redwood Valley

NEW ULM -- The New Ulm High School's girls tennis team started it's regular season with a 4-3 win over Redwood Valley.

Many matches came down to three sets in New Ulm Thursday.

"We played well enough to win," coach Pat Reedy said. "However, we need to take our game up another level to be a strong contender."

In No. 1 singles New Ulm's Jenny Pugh fell to Kate Maland 6-0, 6-1.

"Maland is one of the top players in the area," coach Pat Reedy said. "Jenny' Pugh's game usually dictates the tempo of her matches, but Maland was so strong that Jenny played defense most of the day."

New Ulm's Katie Hildebrandt defeated Alecia Prins 6-1, 6-3 in No. 2 singles and New Ulm's Leah Lindholm defeated Abby Rivard 6-1, 6-2.

"Katie Hildebrandt and Leah Lindholm both played with the consistency of midseason form," Reedy said.

Joceyln Baune defeated New Ulm's Amber Portner 4-6, 7-5, 6-0 in No. 3 singles.

For doubles, Liz Reedy and Sheena Stueber hung on to top Redwood Valley's Amanda Malecek and Olivia Schoffman 4-6, 6-1, 7-5.

Megan Van Roekel and Kelsey Langholz hung in tough against Redwood Valley's Karissa Rothmeier and Kristin Malecha, but lost 6-0, 3-6, 6-2.

"We believe that if we can get to a third set, we're going to win the majority of those matches," Pat Reedy said. "We believe in ourselves. Though Megan and Kelsey dropped their third set, they played well after getting blanked in the first set of their match."

It came down to Emily Pearson and Alex Harsha, who took Redwood Valley's Amanda Jacobson and Kristina Schneider to the third set. New Ulm was victorious 6-7(5), 6-0, 7-5.