The St. James’ girls tennis team got the Saints fall sports season off to a terrific start last week when they hosted and won two tournaments to start their season 6-0. In the doubles tournament held last Wednesday (Aug. 25) the team led by Head Coach Les Zellmann beat Luverne, Maple River, and Sibley East in convincing fashion. Then on Friday morning the Saints debuted their singles lineup in three wins over Yellow Medicine East, Montevideo, and Martin County West.
The Friday tournament had St. James drop just one game. The Saints 1-through-3 singles players each went 3-0 led by Paige Olson at #1, Aryn Eckstrom at #2, and Michaela Nordby at #3. That trio won every set.
The St. James doubles teams were just as effective. Senior McKenzie Gronewald and junior Julia Runge went 3-0 at #1 doubles including a three set comeback over Montevideo (5-7, 6-3, 10-5). Megan Lahti paired up with Sarah Durheim for two wins and then with Sandra Hernandez for a third at #2 doubles. Sandra Hernandez went 3-0 on Friday thanks to two other wins at #3 doubles with fellow senior Courtney Rushing and sophomore Michaela Nelson. The latter pair teamed up to beat MCW in straight sets at #3 doubles as well.
Wednesday
Conditions were perfect for the Saints’ opening week tournaments. That was especially true last Wednesday morning (Aug. 25) when St. James hosted a doubles tournament on the eve of the first day of school. This regular season primer saw 19 different Saints get to play at least one match; they all won at least once.
Nine individual Saints went 3-0 in the tournament: Paige Olson, Aryn Eckstrom, Julia Runge, McKenzie Gronewald, Megan Lahti, Lorena Hernandez, Michaela Nordby, Sarah Durheim, and Michaela Nelson; five others earned two wins: Taylor Henry, Sonya Doll, Cora Lee Berg, Becca Eisfeld, and Chelsea Nordhausen; and five had one win: Courtney Rushing, Sandra Hernandez, Macy Coleman, Emma Peterson, and Jenika Rathei.
The Saints’ most resounding win came in an 8-0 win over Sibley East. The St. James girls didn’t drop a set and won by a combined 96 games to 13.
The girls play today (Thursday) at River Valley and then travel to Blue Earth on Thursday, the 9th.
