Eagle netters battle past Redwood Valley

NEW ULM -- The New Ulm girls tennis team dropped the top two singles matches, but battled back to defeat Redwood Valley 4-3 in a nonconference meet at NUHS courts.

The Cardinals' Jennifer Bonebright and Kate Maland each secured singles wins as Bonebright defeated Brittany Gorres 6-3, 6-0 at No. 1 and Maland outlasted Alisha Witt 7-5, 6-3 at No. 2. The Eagles would also win two singles matches as Allison Sprung topped Lisa Goodthunder 6-1, 6-0 at No. 3 and sophomore Katie Hildebrandt shut out Alecia Prins 6-0, 6-0 at No. 4.

"We played well today," New Ulm coach Pat Reedy said. "It's not going to be easy to replace our No. 1 (Amy Hildebrandt) from last year, but these girls have showed me a lot of desire in practice. We'll probably be shuffling around a little bit, but things look good so far."

The Eagles would ensure the win as they won two of three doubles matches. The No. 1 team of Shannon Gorres and Meghan Reedy defeated Redwood Valley's Amanda Malecek and Olivia Schoffman 6-0, 6-2, and the No. 2 tandem of seniors Leah Pederson and Theresa Schuck swept Amanda Jacobson and Kristen Malecha 6-2, 6-2.

The Cardinals' No. 3 team of Sarah Marguth and Michelle Buboltz notched a win with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 win over Tracy Schuck and Jennifer Harmening.

The Eagles (1-0) will travel to take on Le Sueur/Henderson today at 10 a.m. before going to the tough Austin Quad Saturday. Other teams at Austin will include Burnsville and Winona Cotter.

The New Ulm junior varsity had a successful day as well, winning 10 of 11 matches on the day. Singles winners for the Eagles included Sheena Stueber, Katie Prochniak, Leah Lindholm, and Laura McLuen.

Doubles winners were the teams of Kristin Nierengarten and Liza Smith, Cari Hoffmann and Sara Davis, Sarah Rohde and Rachel McLuen, Emily Pearson and Megan Van Roekel, Kelly Harmening and Laura Hoffman, and Randi Marquardt and Rachel Varland.