Isabella Abrahams debuted in her new role as the Otters number one singles player and did a fantastic job.  “She was striking the ball well and hit big with the big hitters,” noted Coach Lill.  “She looked to take a more aggressive and offensive approach at first singles and showed that she can do that with the best of them.  She also earned her first win at the top of the ladder. Leila Nasri had a great showing at second singles for us today, walking away with second place in her tournament.  Leila is one of those players that can play on either side of the lineup for us in singles or doubles.  She's consistent and very aware out on the court.  She did an awesome job getting back into the singles side of things after playing mostly doubles the past couple of years.” 

Clara Stephan filled the third singles slot and took third place in that tournament with a great day of grinding out points and clinching her third place finish by pulling out a great third set super tie-breaker to earn herself some hardware.  A combination of 8th grader Kaia Ness and 9th grader Layla Zosel took turns in the fourth singles tournament and had a great day of acclimating to what a varsity match looks like. Kaia ended up winning her first varsity match, while Layla pushed her match the distance before dropping it in a super-tiebreaker.  “It was a great day of gaining experience for these newcomers,” stated Lill. 

In doubles action, Karley Braeger and Ashtyn Lill had their go in the first doubles tournament.  The duo started slow and were quickly acclimated to the world of first doubles.  They ended up winning a match against Wadena/Deer Creek in an extremely long three setter 16-14. 

Hannah Anderson and Ruby Ellison had a fantastic day as a second doubles team, taking second place in the tournament.  “Both girls looked solid and even flashy at times with some great put-aways at the net and aggressive play,” reported Lill. 

Cyntreya Lockett and Hattie Fullhart had a productive outing as the Otters third doubles team, dropping a tight first match, but recovering very nicely to come back and earn the consolation championship.  The fourth doubles lineup had some very tight matches with a couple of three-set losses for the duos of Ava Hastings/Lauren Fazio and Lydia Kunz/Samantha Kunz.  Dagny Gerhardson and Annie Trosvig finished up the last round of play in the fourth doubles tournament with a back-and-forth 6-4, 7-5 victory.  

“This first day of match play after just a week of practice is always a good indicator of where we are,” concluded Coach Lill.  “We saw some things that we did very well and some things we will get back to work on at practice on Monday. Overall it was a great day of tennis for our Otter girls.”