State tennis #14

For a fourteenth straight time, the Mayo high school girl’s tennis team is headed to state this year! It may be seen as something that continues to happen every year, but there’s always something exciting to watch before they make it to state. The section final between Mayo and cross city rival Century is something a tennis parent and especially fan don’t want to miss! As quoted by senior captain Hannah Stroebel, “This is one of the most exciting times of the year and just trying to play with such anxiety and chaos is quite the challenge!” We also have a good chance of winning a state championship so I hope we can come out on top in the end and win it all!

So this year, the girls faced another good century team which had two of its singles players ranked in the top ten of the state. This had already set Mayo with a major challenge, because it would mean having to face a possible 0-2 start to the match. The main strategy for century would be that they would only have to win two doubles matches so that they could seal the win. By the time the match had begun, the Mayo girls were already quite stressed out with tough singles matches so they really had to step things up in there doubles. The girls were in for a small hint of surprise as the results would completely change and the tennis match would soon be going in Mayos favor. At first it never looked like the Mayo girls would pull anything off but then a small incident came out of nowhere. Were the Century girls going to win?

As the match began, though, there was a slight turning point for the mayo girl’s team. One of the number three doubles players for century ran into the net, twisting her ankle and therefore forfeiting the match at number three doubles, played by Stroebel and her partner Christina Hagen. This narrowed the margin to 1-2. As the Mayo girls realized that three doubles had been strengthened so that century would have a better chance of winning, winning was completely out of the question now for century. From that point on, mayo completely dominated the second part of the match winning all five of the matches with a 5-2 victory in the end. “It’s a great feeling having the opportunity to go back to state with a great team that I’ve been playing with for a while. I really do get to know these teammates of mine and there will to strive and get better at the sport”, senior captain Jessie Edwards mentioned after winning her one doubles match with her partner Delaney Edwards. This year the girls won a hard fought section 1AA final and everyone wishes them the best as the fight continues through state tennis which will be held at the Baseline Tennis Center at the University of Minnesota.