Girls Tennis: Red Wing goes undefeated in home tourney

Red Wing senior Kristen Anderson has a penchant for playing in long matches.

She may not have the biggest shot but she’s content with wearing down opponents.

During Saturday’s Red Wing Invitational, the Wingers’ No. 4 singles player executed her game plan perfectly to help Red Wing defeat Eau Claire Regis 4-3 and go 2-0 to win its own tournament at Twin Bluff Middle School.

“It’s kind of my signature,” Anderson said. “I keep swinging. I make the other person run around and get tired.”

Anderson outlasted Moriah Branick 6-1, 3-6, 7-5, as the two players played the entire final set after all other matches finished. The win was Anderson’s third in three-set matches this season.

“If I could tell exactly what it was I’d transfer it to everyone else,” Red Wing head coach Randy Decker said of Anderson’s ability to pull out tough victories. “She’s dealing with the stress better this year. To win, she knows she needs to make them long and painful for the other player. She will never give in.”

Anderson jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the third set but the two players traded breaks until Anderson pulled ahead 6-5 and finally sealed the match on her serve.

“I knew I had the first set in the bag and knew I had the third set to wear her down,” Anderson said.

The Wingers (8-7, 1-2 Missota) also got stellar doubles play Saturday against Regis, winning two out of three matches.

Senior Katie Kelly and junior Emily Stegora defeated Emily Sailer and Sarah Clark at No. 1 doubles, coming back from a 5-3 deficit in the first set to win 7-6 (4), 6-3. The pair struggled with mistakes early but limited double faults as the match wore on and stayed aggressive at the net.

“(Serving) was part of our unforced error issues,” Kelly said.

“We just wanted to get less unforced errors,” Stegora added. “Get the ball in play and work from there. We can both put the ball away at the net.”

Juniors Serena Feehan and Katie Carlson won 6-4, 6-0 at No. 3 doubles and eighth-grader Emily Otteson tallied a point for Red Wing at No. 2 singles with a 6-3, 6-1 victory.

“We knew Regis would be difficult,” he said. “I’m a very happy man. You don’t want to get too focused on wins and losses but we’re in a good spot right now.”

In the Wingers’ first match of the day they defeated Bloomington Jefferson 7-0.

Ninth-grader Solveig Christenson won 6-3, 6-2 at No. 1 singles, Otteson defeated Molly Deering 6-2, 6-3 at No. 2 singles, ninth-grader Morley Struss breezed past Julia Plasynski 6-1, 6-0 at No. 3 singles and junior Claire Carson got a 7-6 (5), 7-5 victory at No. 4 singles in her first career varsity match.

Carson trailed 5-2 in both sets before coming back to win.

Kelly and Stegora pulled out a 7-5, 6-2 win at No. 1 doubles, senior Megan Clemons and sophomore Lauren Brooks won 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 at No. 2 doubles and senior Maddie Flack and sophomore McKenzie Muelken tallied a 3-6, 6-2, 10-4 victory at No. 3 doubles.

Regis defeated Bloomington Jefferson in the second matchup of the tournament.

The wins Saturday moved Red Wing back above .500 and give the Wingers their third consecutive victory. Decker said he didn’t necessarily expect to get past Regis but it was an impressive performance.

“It’s really helpful,” he said of winning both matches. “Now, we have some momentum. We really have erased some of the problems we had earlier in the season.”

The Wingers host Academy of Holy Angels Tuesday at Twin Bluff Middle School.

Tags: girls tennis, red wing, sports, prep