Wingers sweep Austin in opening round of sections

The Red Wing girls tennis team swept Austin in the first round of the Section 1AA playoffs Tuesday in Red Wing 7-0.

“We played well against a team that is rebuilding,” Wingers coach Randy Decker said. “With the final home match of the season, it was bittersweet — fun to play, fun to win, but hard because it was the last home match for our incredible group of seniors.”

Bryn Christenson, Nakia Fritz and Marisa Toivonen all played their final home matches for Red Wing and the group lost a combined two games in their three matches. Christenson and Katie Kelly defeated Olivia Grev and Christine Barinka 6-1, 6-0 in No. 1 doubles, while Fritz and Nicole Schammel won their match at No. 2 doubles 6-0, 6-0. Toivonen won 6-1, 6-0.

“Quite a way for them to go out,” Decker said. “But that’s pretty much par for the course this year — all three have consistently played at a very high level.”

The future is also bright for the Wingers. Sophomore Emily Stegora won her No. 2 singles match 6-4, 6-1 and junior Kristen Anderson defeated Megan Fleiner 6-2, 6-2 in No. 4 singles. Eighth-grader Solveig Christenson won her No. 3 singles match 6-3, 6-0 and Decker is eager to see her game develop in the coming years. This was her first year on the team.

“She has just begun to realize her potential,” Decker said of Christenson. “All she did was break into the starting singles lineup of a good team and win most of her matches. It’s pretty exciting to think how good she could be next year.”

The No. 3 doubles team of ninth-grader Lauren Brooks and junior Megan Clemons finished the sweep with a 6-1, 4-6, 6-2 win.

The next round of sections is not going to be as easy for Red Wing. On Thursday, the Wingers travel to Rochester to take on sixth-ranked Rochester Century.

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