On the singles side of the lineup card tonight the Otters had Ellie Colbeck, Madison Anderson, Amber Anderson, and Mia Marsh.  "This was a little different that what we had been putting out there, as we put Isabella Abrahams in our doubles lineup tonight and gave Mia a shot in the singles world," said Head Coach Jamie Lill.  "Both moves paid off tonight.  We earned wins at first, second and fourth singles tonight, fairly routinely.  Ellie and Madison dominated their matches, dropping only one and two games, respectively.  Mia also picked up a singles win at 6-2, 6-3.  Mia is showing some nice consistency on the court and this was a nice win for her." 

The real action tonight came in the doubles matches.  "Our first doubles duo of Ava Weber and Leila Nasri came out ready to play aggressive tennis," reported Lill.  "They´ve been playing such stiff competition that they hadn´t really gotten on a roll yet, but tonight they were really able to get a good feel for the match.  Ava and Leila are both very intellectual players and they make smart decisions, which is key in first doubles as everything happens so fast.  The key for them tonight was that on top of knowing what they should do, they were aggressive and executed well.  They battled through a back and forth first set before earning the set 6-4.  Ava and Leila continued to play well and took a lead into the end of the second set before dropping a few games and eventually the set 7-5, sending them into a third and decisive set.  After having a lead in the second set and then dropping it, often times doubles teams can have a tendency to kind of ¨go away¨ and lose an easy third set.  That was not the case for our girls tonight.  They kept their foot on the pedal and finished a tight match with a 6-4 third set win.  This was a great match for these girls.  Textbook doubles." 

First doubles wasn´t the only team to go the distance as first-time second doubles partners Paige Pearson and Isabella Abrahams took the court together.  "Paige and Bella make a nice pair as Bella is steady on the baseline, while Paige is a finisher," noted Lill.  "She´s got a great wingspan and doesn´t miss the opportunity to put a ball away.  They complement each other well.  Bella and Paige started a bit slow today, dropping the first set 6-3.  Things really started to click in the second set and you could just tell they were in for a battle.  They got into a nice rhythm of being offensive and getting to the net to finish points.  They won a tight second set 7-5 to force a decisive third set.  This set was amazing.  It was back and forth competitive tennis.  After a slow start to the final set, down 0-3, the girls found themselves at 6-6 in the final set, forcing a third set tie-break.  Even the tie-break was back and forth.  Bella and Paige were down 5-6 (match point) but battled back all the way to win the breaker, set and match 10-8 in the third.  This was such a fun and exciting match!"

At third doubles, Hannah Prody and Ashtyn Lill earned another win fairly routinely, 6-1, 6-3. 

"Tonight was just a great showing for Otter tennis," conluded Lill.  "We knew tonight was going to be good for us, win or lose.  We thought maybe a 3-4 or 4-3 finish could be possible, so to earn the match 6-1 was impressive for our girls." 

The Otters also had some great results in JV action as well.  Mackenzie Krava and Lily Chamoun won in straight sets as did the duo of Maddie Longtin and Logan Strom.  Lexy Samuelson almost pulled of a singles win as well, dropping her close match 6-2, 5-7, (7-4). 

The Otters next take the court on Tuesday, September 8 at 4:30 at St. Cloud Apollo. 

Singles:
1. Ellie Colbeck (FF) defeated Sara Weno (S) 6-0, 6-1.
2. Madison Anderson (FF) defeated Addy Bultema (S) 6-1, 6-1.
3. Olivia Marek (S) defeated Amber Anderson (FF) 6-0, 6-3.
4. Mia Marsh (FF) defeated Hailey Hennen (S) 6-2, 6-3.

Doubles:
1. Ava Weber/Leila Nasri (FF) defeated Violet Steil/Addy Bunn (S)  6-4, 5-7, 6-4.
2. Paige Pearson/Isabella Abrahams (FF) defeated Rainna Stansle/Emily Crandall (S) 3-6, 7-5, 7-6(8).
3. Hannah Prody/Ashtyn Lill (FF) defeated Tia Leen/Kiley Weber (S) 6-1, 6-3.