PREP TENNIS: Marshall tops Worthington, 6-1

WORTHINGTON -- Head coach Mike Marquardt hopes winning is contagious.

The Trojans won at No. 3 doubles Thursday afternoon, but Marshall proved too much in a 6-1 girls' tennis victory.

"I'm really hoping that this kind of rubs off," Marquardt said. "We're still tweaking the lineups, everybody is in different positions. It's hard to get a pattern going."

Makensie Carstensen and Kirsten Aljets won 7-5, 6-2 at No. 3 doubles against Marshall's Hannah Meyer and Brittany Soupir.

"They were being consistent and stayed low," Marquardt said. "But they would get the ball in one more time and the other girls weren't able to put it back or put pressure on us. We were at the net a lot. We were receiving line drives left and right and they were still in it and getting the racket on it."

While the third doubles were winning, other players were making progress.

One was Sabrina Klein, who was playing at No. 1 singles.

"Obviously it could have gone better, but I had some pretty good shots," said Klein, who lost 6-0, 6-0 to Brooke Louwagie "Coach has been telling me that I need to work on angles and I think I did a pretty good job of that today.

"I need to get up at the net and have short angles and if she's in the back, have a short angle so that she doesn't have any chance of getting it."

But the progress hasn't happened overnight.

"I think it's been more of a gradual change," she said. "At our tournament this weekend, a lot of stuff finally clicked."

Now that she's mastered her angles, it's on to her serving.

"I have a really weird serve, I don't toss it decent," Klein said. "But it works for me. Since it floats, it's really easy for them to just pop it back over where they want. I need to work on placing my serves so I put more pressure on them."

At No. 2 singles, Emily Williamson forced a third set, but lost 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.

"She's starting to play longer points instead of giving up the easy ones," Marquardt said. "She stayed in it and really wore her girl down. She got it to a third set and played well. She just missed a break because she lost 6-3."

Kate Lesnar lost 6-1, 7-6 (8-6) at No. 3 singles to Maddie Schoerphoerster.

"The first set got by her too quick," Marquardt said. "I think she was trying to force things when things weren't gelling. She wasn't in rhythm. In the second set, she slowed it down and that helped. She got it to a tiebreaker. She was down 6-3 in the tiebreaker and kind of fought it back, but ended up losing 8-6."

Amanda Bristow lost 6-1, 6-2 at No. 4 singles to Jessica Tubbs.

"The backhand is definitely coming around," Marquardt said of Bristow. "Her serves are being well placed. I just think it's court positioning and reading what her opponent is doing."

Elizabeth Luke and Brianna Kempema teamed up at No. 1 doubles, but suffered a 6-1, 6-2 loss.

At No. 2 doubles, Rachel Drietz and Heather Loy lost 6-0, 6-0.

"We did pretty well," Drietz said. "We were making some really good shots, but then they were able to return them.

"I was thinking that we'd get the next one, but yeah, it was frustrating."

But the duo did some good things in Thursday's match.

"Our serving was really good today," Drietz said. "Being up at the net was good, too."

Despite the loss, Marquardt was pleased with how his team is progressing.

"We had one that was in a third set and we had another one that almost went to a third set," the coach said. "Before we were done in straight sets. I like where we're going; we're definitely getting better as we go."

In exhibition play, Ashley Jansma and Annie Lesnar won their match 7-5, while Sarah Janssen and Erika Schutte won 7-6 (7-3).

Justyce Voss and Kari Li won 6-2 as the Trojans won three out of five junior varsity matches. Katherine Luke and Paige Stewart lost 6-4, while Karina Cuate and Brenda Orozco lost 4-0.

The exhibition play doubles were moved from Pleasant to Centennial due to poor court conditions.

The Trojans will host Luverne on Monday.

Brandon Valley 5, Luverne 2

BRANDON, S.D. -- Bradon Valley proved to be too much for Luverne Thursday, earning an inter-state victory.

Cardinal Kaitlin Wohnoutka won 6-2, 6-3 at No. 2 singles against Tasha Nelson.

The No. 3 doubles team of Erin Doherty and Erica Marshall also earned a win for Luverne. They defeated Haley Rubin and Haylee Thomas 6-1, 6-4.

Luverne's Hannah Baartman lost 6-2, 6-1 at No. 1 singles.

At No. 3 singles, Luverne's Emily Robinson lost 6-1, 6-3, while Katie Eeten lost 4-6, 7-5, 12-10 at No. 4 singles.

Cathryn Hartz and Hilary Deragisch lost 6-1, 6-7 (3-7), 10-5 at No. 1 doubles.

At No. 2 doubles, Alyssa Frakes and Autumn Wenzel lost 6-1, 2-6, 10-3.