The Falcon women's tennis team traveled to compete in a conference match against UW-Stevens Point on Saturday, April 10. The match was originally scheduled for a 12:00pm start, but due to impending weather, the match was moved to 10:30am to avoid any weather related issues to an outdoor event. That meant the wake up calls were a bit earlier than expected and the Falcons had to be sharp right from the get go after a 3-hour ride to Steven Point in the early morning hours. The Falcons had a great warm up and were focused to play great tennis on the road.
All three doubles teams started strong with great execution of strategy that gave them early leads in 2 out of 3 matches. The UW-Stevens Point Pointers responded and started playing more consistently and eventually won some big point to start pulling away in all 3 matches and completed the sweep in doubles and took a 3-0 lead heading to singles. #2 Doubles team of Gabby Potthoff and Karen Duddeck battled extremely hard in their 8-5 defeat.
"Gabby and Karen never gave up and were mounting a comeback winning key points to bring the match to 5-7 before eventually losing. They were using great strategy and patience to rally points until they found their opportunities. We had been working on this all week in practice and it showed. I am very pleased with the progress we continue to make in our doubles games of all the players," said head coach Dan Stumpf.
The Falcons went to work against a steady and balanced Pointers singles line up. The Falcons were up to the task and had many great points, but the highlight match of the day was #1 singles Kailey Courteau.
Courteau was in control of her match winning the first set 6-1, but lost the second set 2-6 when the Pointer player stepped up her game. A third set super tie break decided the match winner going in the Pointers favor 10-7 around stellar play from both players. #2 singles Abbie Reed lost in straight sets 6-1, 6-0 against a strong player from Stevens Point that played a near flawless game committing very few errors and forcing Reed to match her consistency. #3 singles Gabby Potthoff squared off against a similar style opponent that was a battle of strategy. In the end the match went the Pointers way 6-1, 6-0. #4 singles Karen Duddeck continues to build consistency and confidence into her game with another solid effort despite a lopsided 6-2, 6-0 loss.
There were many great points and the Pointer player won a lot of key points that lead to her victory over Duddeck. #5 singles Delaney Osmond battled hard and had a great match losing 6-2, 6-3 in the longest singles match of the day. #6 singles Macy Ragsdale faced a seasoned Pointer player that took the match 6-0, 6-2.
The Falcons will host UW Stout on Sunday, April 10 at Ramer Field Tennis Courts at 12:00pm.
