Highland High School girls tennis team splits back-to-back home matches
After two weeks of being mostly on the road and in tournaments, the Highland girls tennis team got to enjoy a little home cooking with recent matches against Althoff Catholic and Alton Marquette.
On Wednesday, the Lady Bulldogs battled the Crusaders through singled and doubles but fell just short in a 5-4 match loss.
The Lady Bulldogs struggled in the singles flights as only Sidney Basler at No. 2 singles and Krista Rittenhouse at No. 5 singles posted wins in their respective matches.
“In a lot of our singles matches they were close until the end and we fell behind in them and just couldn’t come back,” Highland coach Matt Pellock said.
Basler battled through a super tiebreaker to win her No. 2 singles match 4-6, 7-6, 12-10. Rittenhouse took her No. 5 singles match 6-1, 6-4.
“Sidney had a real good comeback win in her match,” Pellock said. “She was down 4-6 and came back to win 7-6 and 12-10 and she was down match point in the super tiebreaker, too ... she hit a really nice cross-court shot at match-point and was able to win.”
In the doubles flights, HHS fared better. Brianna Helm and Katie Augustin won at No. 2 doubles 6-0, 6-4 and Hannah Geest and Jenna Fenton posted a 6-1, 6-3 victory in their No. 3 doubles match.
Thursday brought the Alton Marquette Explorers calling to Highland, and HHS handled its business on the court.
Highland rolled to an 8-1 win over Alton Marquette thanks in large part to wining five of the six single matches.
Basler won at No. 2 singles 6-4, 6-2 and Helm won at No. 3 singles 6-2, 6-2. Fenton rolled to a 6-3, 6-3 win at No. 4 singles, Rittenhouse claimed her No. 5 singles match with a decisive 6-1, 6-1, effort, and Augustin won at No. 6 singles 6-0, 6-3.
“We were hitting well (in the singles) and we were very consistent and hitting a lot of good shots at a high level throughout,” Pellock said. “Everybody up and down the line had pretty good control and it was good to see everybody control their (singles) match pretty well.”
Geest fell behind and lost her first game 4-6 and dropped her match 0-6 at No. 1 singles.
“When the score is close like it was in Hannah’s match and her almost making it to the finish line, you can kind of consider that a good loss,” Pellock said. “We’ll look at comparable scores of everybody in the area and that’s in our sectional and that (score) will definitely be one that stands out as a winnable match and that keeps her in the conversation for playing singles (in the postseason).”
Highland girls cruise in doubles action
HHS handled the double matches without too much trouble. Basler and Rittenhouse teamed up at No. 1 doubles to win their match 8-6. Helm and Augustin won at No. 2 doubles 9-7 and Addison Crask and Lauren Herman combined at No. 3 doubles to get an 8-4 victory.
“The No. 1 and No. 2 (doubles) were close to the end and those really could have went either way toward the end,” Pellock said. “The No. 2 team played aggressive when they needed to win that final game doing a lot of controlling shots at the net. The No. 1 (doubles) with Sidney and Krista, there were a lot more long rallies.”
The Lady Bulldogs netters are back in action next week with home matches against Roxana and Mascoutah at 4 p.m. Monday and Tuesday, respectively.
This story was originally published September 25, 2020 at 1:01 AM.