Otter Girls Post 4-3 CLC Win Over Alexandria
Tuesday night the Otters played host to the Alexandria Cardinals in a home girls' tennis dual on a night that we celebrated our seniors and parents. We knew this match would have huge implications moving forward into postseason play. The Otters fell to the Cardinals 5-2 in late August and have been looking forward to this rematch ever since. In an extremely tight and exciting match, the Otters prevailed 4-3 tonight.
Many of the matches were fairly routine straight set matches, with Alexandria taking 1st and 4th singles and 2nd doubles and the Otters taking 2nd singles and 1st and 3rd doubles. The real story of the match was how it finished. With the team score tied up at 3-3, Layla Zosel was still on court against Carleigh Lueck in the 3rd singles slot. Layla started kind of slow and dropped the first set 6-3. The second set was closer as the girls went back and forth in games. When the other six matches were finished, Layla was down a set and 4-5 in the second set. This is when Layla really turned it on and won the next two games to go up 6-5. Carleigh won the next game to force a tie-break at 6-6. Layla was calm and collected and earned the second set 7-6 (7-5) to force a decisive third set. This third set not only determined Layla's outcome, but also the team outcome and helped solidify home court for the first round of playoffs next week. Layla played with confidence and kept her composure throughout the third set, winning fairly quickly 6-2 and securing the team victory for the Otters. This was a huge match for our team tonight. The girls have worked so hard and wanted this opportunity to play Alexandria again. They really made the most of it.
It was a great night to celebrate our five amazing seniors. Isabella Abrahams, Hannah Anderson, Kylie King, Maddie Lien and Clara Stephan have all done an amazing job in our program and are great role models for our younger players. It was a special night for Otter tennis all around.
The Otters host the St. Cloud Crush this Thursday at 4:30 in yet another CLC and section matchup.
Singles:
1. Marissa Rousu (A) defeated Isabella Abrahams (FF) 6-2, 6-0.
2. Ruby Ellison (FF) defeated Faith Odland (A) 6-0, 6-1.
3. Layla Zosel (FF) defeated Carleigh Lueck (A) 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-2.
4. Addison Steevenson (A) defeated Kaia Ness (FF) 7-5, 6-4.
Doubles:
1. Hattie Fullhart/Ashtyn Lill (FF) defeated Ayla Rolin/Jalyn Halverson (A) 6-1, 6-3.
2. Madalyn Husfeldt/Cadence Simon (F) defeated Hannah Anderson/Clara Stephan (FF) 6-4, 6-2.
3. Dillyn Lill/Carsyn Lill (FF) defeated Katelyn Thiery/Meredith Sundby (A) 6-2, 6-4.
Otter seniors Clara Stephan, Madison Lien, Kylie King, Hannah Anderson, Isabella Abrahams. PHOTO PROVIDED
Layla Zosel striking a backhand. PHOTO PROVIDED
