Geneva sweeps away Rosary
Geneva's girls tennis team expects its top players to win the vast majority of their matches.
The only real concern is the lack of experience in the bottom half of the lineup.
Imagine, then, how thrilled coach Maureen Weiler was to see all of her players step up Tuesday afternoon, and defend their home courts as the Vikings (6-4) swept a talented Rosary team, 7-0.
"I've been waiting for some of these wins," Weiler said. "I've been trying to get our younger players ready for conference, and this was great for us."
Kayla Fujimoto (11-0) set the tone at No. 1 singles, beating Emily Reuland, 6-0, 6-1.
"I've played (Reuland) a lot before so it wasn't anything new," Fujimoto said. "It was just a matter of taking care of business."
The match featured two of the area's best young players, both of whom qualified for state last season as freshmen.
"I expected that match to be more competitive, but Kayla really attacked (Reuland) at the net," Rosary coach John Tsang said. "Those two are going to see each other a lot. They're going to be rivals."
Though Weiler figured Fujimoto would rack up another victory, it was Jamie Potts' 6-3, 6-1 win over Amanda Roche at No. 2, and Maddie Suchor's 6-2, 6-3 sweep of Quinn Tentinger at No. 3, that put the coach in a good mood.
"Today Jamie and Maddie gave me hope that we can get some of the other wins that we're going to need to be successful," Weiler said.
Blair Selakovich and Mary Pelling (10-3) got off to a fast start and never stopped, as they won their top doubles match, 6-0, 6-1.
"We didn't get much of a warm-up before the match," Selakovich said. "But we've learned to be focused and play well right away."
The key for the Vikings' new doubles pair was not to lose that focus after a quick first set.
"It's important for us to keep playing the way we can, and not have a let down," Pelling said.
Liz Bertrand and Krista Panko continued Geneva's winning ways, beating Jen Winkle and Megan Conner, 6-2, 6-3 at No. 2.
"(Bertrand and Panko) are a very good team with a lot of potential," Weiler said.
Alexa Rogers and Emily Baumer won their No. 3 doubles match over Nikki Erdman and Viatra Baker, 6-4, 6-2.
At fourth doubles, Mary Anderson and Lauren Stephens turned in a solid first set that they won, 6-4, to give the Royals (3-6) their best shot at winning a match. But Kelly Mather and Claire Chlasta dominated the second set, 6-0, and gutted out the third, 6-4, to complete the Viking sweep.
"I expected my girls to compete a little better today, but we will take a lot of lessons from this," Tsang said. "Some of the things that Geneva is doing are tactics that I want our girls to use."