Clear Lake girls split a pair of tennis matches

(Above) Clear Lake’s Gretchen Jones is Clear Lake’s number one player.  She picked up an 8-2 victory over Iowa Falls-Alden’s Emilee McDaniel in singles action Thursday night.  -Reporter photo by Chris Barragy

The Clear Lake girls tennis team went .500 in the first two matches of the season.  The Lions were defeated, 6-3, by Mason City on April 4, then topped Iowa Falls-Alden by the same score on April 7.

Mason City 6, CL 3

Clear Lake’s Reagan Brackey, playing number four singles, scored the Lions’ only singles point with her 7-6, 6-3 win over McClaren Rodriguez.  The doubles teams of Reagan Brackey and Chloe Mueller and Maddy Brant and Ali Witt also earned victories.

The Lions were involved in several close matches in the meet.

Other key matches included the play of Kiersten Baalson (number two) and Maddy Brant (number six singles).  Baalson won a hard fought first set, 6-4, against Michelle Hahn, but lost by the same score 4-6 in the second set, forcing a Super TieBreaker, which unfortunately ended up 4-10 in favor of Hahn.

Brant also found herself in the same situation, as she kept up the pressure to win 7-6 (tiebreaker 9-7) in the first set, but ran out of steam 0-6 in the second to freshman Grace Henrich.  Brant’s final Super Tiebreaker score was 5-10.

Mason City took a 5-1 lead after singles, however, Clear Lake came back with some strong doubles play.

The number one doubles team of Gretchen Jones and Baalson  gained some valuable experience as new partners, but lost 0-6, 2-6 to the solid play of Sydney Rottinghaus and Michelle Hahn.

Reagan Brackey and Chloe Mueller combined for a 6-0, 6-2 win.  Maddy Brant and Ali Witt had a straight set win of 6-4, 6-3.

“With two Super Tiebreakers and other close play today, I was proud of our efforts for the first match of the season,” said Coach Mary Jo Peterson.

Junior Varsity

Junior Varsity

Junior varsity wins were posted by: Lainey Arians/Alexa Julsen; Bailey Goldberg/Jassmine Rucker; Kristi Peterson/Kourtney Mundt; Mikayla Brant/Rayanaa Schaffer; Shane Ahmedi/Maranda Harrison; Kortni Savage/Sophia Willis; Kourtney Mundt/Mia Kattee; Mikayla Brant/Alex Julsen; Kristi Peterson/Lainey Arians

CL 6, IF-A 3

“With the wind and cold, today was about making adjustments and just battling out each point,” said Coach Peterson after Thursday’s 6-3 victory over Iowa Falls-Alden.  Conditions were challenging, with the temperature at 40 degrees and the wind blowing 20 mph.

Number one singles player Gretchen Jones jumped out to an early lead for the Lions in her win over Emilee McDaniel, 8-2.

Chloe Mueller and Maddy Brant were also winners, as both showed confidence in their singles matches, 8-3 and 8-5.  Brant battled her way back after being down most of the match.

The match with the Cadets was tied 3-3 after singles play.

The number three doubles team of Brant and Ali Witt took an early 6-1 lead, but needed to stick to some basics to get the job finished, 8-6.

Number one doubles Jones and Kiersten Baalson teamed up to outscore their opponents 8-4 and seal the team’s overall victory, while the number two doubles team, Mueller and Reagan Brackey, made a comeback to score the Lions’ sixth team point by defeating Kappas and Brunsen, 8-5.

Junior Varsity

Junior varsity wins in doubles were posted by: Jassmine Rucker/Jenna Nelson; Irene Swanson/Bailey Goldberg; Maranda Harrison/Philomena Schnoebelen; Kourtney Mundt/Jassmine Rucker; Kortni Savage/Mia Katter.