Gorres, Reedy up to challenge of state tourney

By ANDY ROGERS

Journal Sports Editor

NEW ULM -- Since eighth grade, the New Ulm High Eagles doubles team of Meghan Reedy and Brittany Gorres have been playing tennis together. After numerous practices, matches and tournaments they will play their final match at the state girls tennis tournament.

At 10:30 a.m. today at the Northwest Athletic Club on 98th Street in Bloomington, Reedy and Gorres will take on Elk River's Lindsey Chapman and Stacy Schulz in the first round of the Class 2A doubles tournament.

"(Elk River) is probably pretty good," Reedy said. "Because there's two Elk River teams in the doubles match. They both made it."

But both girls are up to any challenge. "We know we can come up strong and play at that level," Gorres said.

"But we've already reached so many goals," Reedy said. "We're just going to go out and have fun. We're happy to be there."

"We want to play the best we can," Gorres said. "The best we've ever played before."

If Reedy and Gorres win, they will face a doubles team from either Litchfield or Austin at 3 p.m. today. With another win, they will play Friday.

Pat Reedy, the doubles coach since the two began playing together, feels confident.

"They play a good mental game," Pat said. "Even if they are down they still play strong. They don't get discouraged and play as a team.

"It showed up all year. They communicate after every point. Two together beats two apart."

The doubles squad has a number of strengths and both the coach and the girls say they all complement each other and they have improved greatly as the season went on. They have a special touch."

Last week, the team beat out a Hutchinson doubles team to take true second at the section tournament and advance to the state tournament.

After running into some early trouble in the match, the team pulled off the win over a Hutchinson, a squad they beat earlier in the year. They were up 5-2, but lost a tiebreaker and still finished with a win in the match.

"That's one of our strengths," Meghan said. "Even if we lose the first (set), we come out strong and don't get down on ourselves.

"Most people would think that we would have gotten down on ourselves, but we got back up and cruised through (the rest of the match)."

Because they've played together for so long, they said they feel like they know how to work together, how to complement each others strengths.

"Our coach has taught how to do that," Meghan said. "We expect to win and if we lose in the first (game), we start over."

They both enjoy playing doubles tennis because it's "really personal," Meghan said. "Both tend to shy away from talking about their own strengths. They prefer talking about the strengths of each other.

"Brittany's really good at her baseline game," Meghan said.

"Meghan's great with the net," Gorres said.

They both said they work well together.

From the beginning of the season, the two wanted to play together.

"We had some switching around to do before we started playing doubles together," Gorres said.

Meghan and Gorres are the only seniors on the New Ulm High girls tennis team.

"I was kind of worried at the beginning of the season," Meghan said. "I was like, 'We'll see how it goes.' We had a young team but our team improved a lot. We only had something like one conference win, but we lost to the champs 3-4."

Gorres wasn't sure what to expect either after having such a young team.

"Sixty percent of the team are in their first year," Gorres said.

They didn't know what to expect after losing so many players to graduation last year.

Gorres and Meghan didn't play doubles together until the season was under way. They both prefer playing doubles than singles.

The singles play on the New Ulm High team "really stepped it up," which gave them the opportunity to play doubles.

The team had strong play from Katie Hildebrandt and Jenny Pugh, a freshman who "improved a lot and did really well at the conference tournament," Meghan said.

"I don't think I could have asked for a better team," Gorres said.

A number of individuals have been practicing with Meghan and Gorres to help them prepare, including members of the community and members of the tennis team.

"The girls just love it when they come down," Pat said.

Larry Wojciak has been helping the team out a lot. He's been practicing with the girls and giving them pointers.

"He does an incredible job breaking down a skill," Pat.

He's volunteered his time to help them with their drills. Yesterday Meghan and Gorres practiced with members of the boys team.

"Any time you can play up -- you can be pushed -- it's good for you," Pat said.

Both Gorres and Meghan will push for the championship today in Bloomington to cap off their tennis career.