Batavia sweeps singles to knock off St. Charles North

It seems to be the season of the 5-2 girls tennis dual meet scores in the Upstate Eight Conference River Division.

After both Batavia and St. Charles North dropped recent 5-2 decisions to conference leader Geneva, the teams hooked up in a head-to-head battle of their own Thursday afternoon with the hopes of staying within striking distance of the Vikings.

Sweeping the 3 singles matches, the Bulldogs (8-3, 3-1) emerged with a 5-2 triumph over the North Stars (5-4, 2-2) in St. Charles.

Senior Nora McClure cruised to a 6-1, 6-0 win over Julia Nickolson at first singles and her younger sister, Kate, claimed a straight-set victory over Kate Boeke at third singles.

Batavia also received a lift from senior Ashlyn Turner, who earned a 6-4, 6-1 win over the North Stars' Maddie Murray at second singles.

"I had a rough start in the first set but I came back," said Turner. "In the first set, I stopped hitting with pace and it didn't work out. When I started hitting with pace, I did better."

"The singles (girls) played well," said Batavia coach Brad Nelson. "Ashlyn (Turner) has really been picking up her game at two. Kate (McClure) did a good job moving the ball around. She has been hobbling around with a hamstring issue."

The Bulldogs split their doubles matches, as Holly Smorczewski and Maddie Rea teamed up for a 6-3, 6-1 win over Emma Spellman and Lianne Anderson in the second position while Zoe Forte and Jenna Walsh won 6-2, 6-3 at the fourth spot.

"We had some people filling in and they did a nice job," said Nelson. "Four doubles did a great job today and Alyssa (Stanczak) did a great job filling in at three but she just doesn't have a lot of doubles experience."

The North Stars' Sarah Oshana and Breanne Warner claimed a 3-set victory over Shannon Gloudeman and Stanczak.

Another bright spot for St. Charles North came at first doubles where juniors Morgan Rerko and Brittany Rohrsen defeated the Bulldogs' Sydnee Unterberg and Julianne Robinson.

Rerko and Rohrsen jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the opening set before Batavia's top duo scored 4 of the next 5 points to tie it at 5-all.

After breaking serve to grab a 6-5 lead, Rerko sealed the first-set triumph with her slam at the net on set point.

"We started getting a lot of points at the net and it just kind of went from there," said Rerko, who missed most of last season with a broken wrist. "I definitely think the energy me and Brittany had carried us into the next one."

Rerko admittedly felt some nerves late in the opening set.

"Probably about the fourth game when they started coming back, I got kind of nervous and started double faulting," said Rerko. "My partner picked me up."

"We were pretty amped up to play them," said Rohrsen, who felt the tide started to turn when they attacked the net. "My partner is really good at the net."

As freshmen, Rerko and Rohrsen captured the UEC River title at fourth doubles.

"We've been best friends since first grade," said Rerko. "We have good chemistry."

"They're both tremendous athletes," said North Stars coach Eve Tubman. "Morgan has the best footwork on the team and Brittany is the steadiest player we have."

Nelson was impressed with the North Stars' tandem.

"North played well at one," said the coach. "We knew they had a solid team there. We will see them again this weekend (at the Oswego Invite). Obviously, we'll see them again at conference and maybe again at sectionals.

"This is one of those things that could go back and forth."