TROJANS TENNIS: Girls’ tennis falls to Marshall

WORTHINGTON — The Trojans girls’ tennis team fell 6-1 to a strong Marshall squad Thursday in Worthington.

“I am a little disappointed in how they played,” WHS coach Mike Marquardt said. “Yet, Marshall is a good team.”

Worthington was swept in singles play, with Kate Lesnar losing 6-2, 6-2 to Julia Hartmann in No. 1 singles. At No. 2 singles, Emily Williamson lost to Brooke Louwagie 6-1, 6-0, while Kirsten Aljets was defeated by Jenna Gannott 6-3, 6-3. Marshall’s No. 4 singles player Anja Baumgarn beat WHS’s Laura Wetering 6-4, 6-1.

“We played good points and had some long rallies,” Marquardt said. “We didn’t give them a lot of free points either.”

In doubles play, Annie Lesnar and partner Brianna Kempema lost to Marshall’s Maggie Roy and Maddie Schoephoerster in No. 1 doubles, 6-3, 6-3. The No. 2 doubles team of Elizabeth Luke and Rachel Drietz fell to Annie Samuelson and Brittany Soupier, 6-2, 6-2. In the final doubles match, Makensie Carstensen and Sarah Janssen picked up Worthington’s only win on the day, defeating Rachel Landmark and Crista Schultze 7-5, 6-2.

“We put up a good fight, but we couldn’t get it done,” Marquardt said. “Our ground strokes have been getting better, but we still need to improve on our placement of the ball and our movement in general.”

In JV action, Miranda LeBrun and Alicia Khatt won their doubles match 7-5, 6-3, while Kara Honius and Ashley Jansma won their match 8-3. Paige Stewart and Erika Schutte won their match 8-2, while Justyce Voss and Shelby Larson lost their game 6-0.

Quinn Bents and Katilyn Brunk own their match 8-1, while Tatyana Clark and Anna Kill won their match 8-3. Venessa Juarez and Lyndsey Schock lost their match 8-1, while Kristy Workman and Kelly Newman lost their match 8-3.

“I feel like we need to go after shots more,” Marquardt said. “We need to put more behind our shots and take more risks with them as well.”

The Trojans play again Monday against Luverne at home at 4:15 p.m.

Luverne falls to Brandon Valley 5-4

BRANDON VALLEY, S.D. — The Luverne Cardinals girls’ tennis team lost to Brandon Valley in South Dakota Thursday.

Erin Buse of Brandon Valley beat Kaitlin Wohnouthka 10-5 in No. 1 singles, Hanna Mutschelknaus beat Luverne’s Emily Robinson 10-8 in No. 2 singles and McKenzie Marso of Brandon Valley beat Katie Eeten 11-10 in No. 3 singles.

“It was another close match that went down to the last point,” Cardinals coach Greg Antoine said. “They seemed to have the edge on the top of the heap while we came out ahead at the bottom.”

In No. 4 singles, Luverne’s Emilee Johnson beat Haylee Thomas 10-6, Paige Adams beat Jessica Sadler of Brandon Valley 10-3 in No. 5 singles and Kynzie Smedsrud beat Jessie Valentien of Brandon Valley 10-3.

“We actually won the first three singles matches and were up 4-2 with 3 matches still playing,” Antoine said. “We were still just playing defense on most of the rallies and I think that was the main difference. They were aggressive and came to the net and finished more points than we did.”

In doubles, Brandon Valley’s Mutschelknaus and Marso beat Luverne’s Wohnoutka and Robinson 10-8 in No. 1 doubles, Buse and Sadler of Brandon Valley beat Adams and Smedsrud 10-5 in No. 2 doubles and Eeten and Johnson won No. 3 doubles for Luverne over Thomas and Valentien 10-3.

“We were down 2-1 after the doubles were through. You can tell that they all play doubles and singles in every match in South Dakota,” Antoine said. “They really seemed to be on the offensive all night while we were just defending on most of the plays.”

Luverne (8-4) plays Worthington in Worthington Monday at 4:15 p.m.

Tags: sports, prep, tennis, trojans, luverne