Tiger tennis team moves to top of Middle Border Conference

• Hailey Davis

New Richmond's Hailey Davis is shown during her four singles victory against Ellsworth last week.

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The control of the Middle Border Conference tennis crown rests firmly within the grasp of the New Richmond girls team.

The Tigers swept three MBC matches over the past week, leaving them alone with the only unbeaten record in conference dual matches.

On Monday the Tigers won a 7-0 match at Mondovi, making up a previous rainout. Last Thursday the Tigers withstood a good challenge on the doubles side to beat Osceola 7-0. Last Tuesday the Tigers rolled past Ellsworth 7-0.

The biggest challenges of the week came in Thursday’s match against Osceola. The Chieftains have some talented doubles players and Osceola took leads in the first set of all three doubles matches.

Tiger coach Denise Devereux said the one doubles team of Alina Stai and Jenny Hudalla turned the match around after seeing they couldn’t overpower Osceola’s girls.

“They were trying to do it with power instead of placement,” Devereux said. “As soon as they started to place shots and work on angle volleys, they got it under control.”

The Osceola match was Parents Night for the Tigers. Osceola brought a large number of girls, so all 29 of the Tigers were able to play a match in front of their parents.

This match also had two NRHS graduates, and children of former tennis coaches, dueling as coaches. Devereux’s mother, Betty Komula, was a Tiger boys tennis coach for many years. Osceola coach Joe Early is the son of former Tiger girls coach Dennis Early.

In Monday’s win at Mondovi the Tigers were a bit sluggish at the opening of their matches. Devereux said the exception was Hailey Davis at four singles. Because Mondovi has six courts, Davis had to wait and watch the first matches. She saw her team’s struggles at the start and saw that she had to be prepared. She rolled to a 6-1, 6-1 victory.

First home matches

Last week’s matches were the first home matches for the Tigers, which were played for the first time on the courts at the new high school. A whipping wind didn’t make the opening match last Tuesday against Ellsworth very enjoyable, but Thursday’s match against Osceola turned out to be an excellent showcase for the new facility.

Tiger schedule

The schedule remains busy for the Tigers. They will play at Unity on Thursday. On Saturday the Tigers host a quad meet, with Altoona, Rice Lake and River Falls visiting. The Tigers have another conference match scheduled for next Tuesday, playing at Baldwin-Woodville.

Tags: sports, tigers, tennis, prep