Our first match of the day was a rematch with Detroit Lakes.  We beat them earlier this season in a 4-3 nail biter and expected much the same today.  A nail-biter is exactly what we got.  Our wins came in the 1's and 2's with Isabella Abrahams and Leila Nasri grabbing the singles wins and our teams of Ashtyn Lill/Hattie Fullhart and Karley Braeger/Cyntreya Lockett earning victories on the doubles side of things.  

Leila continues to play clean and consistent tennis for us in that second singles spot and earned a routine straight set win.  Her all-around game and patience on the court is serving her so well this season.  Bella had a challenge on her hands as she came up against Anna Askelson who had defeated her last week 6-4, 6-4.  There was a different outcome this time, however.  Bella brought her A-game and really imposed herself offensively most of the match, earning a 6-4, 6-1 win. Karley and Cyntreya cruised through their first set 6-0, before hitting a bit of a hiccup in the second set.  They did a very nice job of staying the course and battling mentally to earn the match in a second set tiebreak.  The Otters needed one more point to earn the team victory over the Lakers when Ashtyn and Hattie found themselves in a third set super tie-breaker.  This match was very back-and-forth and full of fast-paced volleys and great lobs.  In a tight tie-break, Ashtyn pulled out a great wide service ace to seal the deal 10-7 in the third.  Our losses against DL were really tight matches as well with 8th grader Kaia Ness falling 6-4, 6-1 at fourth singles and Hannah Anderson and Kezi Hartwell falling 6-4, 6-4 in third doubles.  Ruby Ellison narrowly missed a win in her marathon third singles match, eventually dropping the match 6-3, 1-6, 10-8.  

Our match against Thief River Falls had a little different feel to it on many courts.  They are easily the toughest line-up we've seen so far this season.  They are dominating singles in most of their matches, and continued to do so today, dropping just two games in the four singles matches combined.  The Prowlers demonstrated very clean and technically sound tennis.  They are also an extremely athletic team that moves very well and has great court coverage.  Karley and Cyntreya earned our only team victory at 3rd doubles with a 6-4, 6-0 win.  Hattie Fullhart and Ruby Ellison played a great three-setter at 2nd doubles, but ultimately lost in the third set super tie-breaker.   

The Otters get the weekend off before hosting the St. Cloud Crush on Tuesday and traveling to Brainerd on Thursday for 4:30pm matches.