Highland girls tennis team gets stopped in season opener at Edwardsville

A road trip to alway-tough Edwardsville kicked off the 2020 season for the Highland girls tennis team.

On Wednesday, the Lady Bulldogs got to see first hand how one of southwestern Illinois’ elite programs handles their business.

The host Tigers lived up to their nickname as they roared past Highland for a 9-0 victory at Edwardsville High School.

“It was a little challenging,” Highland coach Matt Pellock said of the opener. “They’ve got a strong team like they normally do and they pretty much had their full varsity (squad) there but we got to play real good competition.”

In the singles flights, No. 1 singles Sidney Basler lost her match 4-6, 0-6. At No. 2 singles, Hannah Geest lost 0-6, 2-6, Brianna Helm lost her No. 3 singles match 0-6, 1-6 and Jenna Fenton fell at No. 4 singles 0-6, 0-6. At No. 5 singles, Krista Rittenhouse dropped a 4-6, 0-6 decision and Katie Augustine lost at No. 6 singles, 1-6, 1-6.

“They mixed it up a little bit for singles, so we had a few more competitive matches, so our singles scores looked a little bit better than the doubles,” Pellock said.

In the doubles flights, Highland had an equally challenging time as Edwardsville’s doubles flight were almost as strong as its singles flights.

Basler and Geest lose at No. 1 doubles 1-8 to Hannah Colbert and Chloe Koons of Edwardsville.

At No. 2 doubles, Helm and Rittenhouse fell 0-6 to Chloe Trimpe and Grace Hackett of Edwardsville. Fenton and Augustine teamed up at No. 3 doubles and lost 8-0 to the Tigers tandem of Morgan Marshall and Emma Herrmann.

“Overall, I thought we competed pretty well and this was the first match for all our varsity team, so your’re going to be a little rusty, especially when the ball’s coming at you a little harder than you’re used to (seeing it),” Pellock said.

Highland (0-1) will be off a week and then head to O’Fallon on Thursday, Sept. 3, to face a talented Panthers club in a 4 p.m. non-conference match.