Olivia Henry, left, and Natalie Brown, right, won the No. 2 doubles bracket at the Perkins Invite. Photo courtesy Lisa Wolfe
SANDUSKY – Ross’ girls team tennis team wrapped up a busy week with its busiest day of all Saturday.
Taking part in the doubles tournament Pirate Invitational at Sandusky Perkins, the Lady Giants continued their stellar play and ended the day by bringing home some hardware.
The No. 2 doubles team of Olivia Henry and Natalie Brown and the No. 4 team of Sophia Biggins and Mallory Hutton each won their respective brackets, going 3-0 on the day, each pulling through three-set matches along the way.
As a team, Ross finished second in the eight-team event, with a total of 85 points, just three behind champion Anthony Wayne.
“I’m so proud, just the way they carried themselves today at Perkins,” coach Lisa Wolfe said. “Fremont Ross should be very proud by their representation from the tennis team today. Very proud.”
Henry and Brown were pushed to the limit with the championship on the line. Facing Anthony Wayne, the first two sets went to tie-breakers, with each team winning by a 7-3 score. The final set then went to a super-tiebreaker, with the first team to 10. Henry and Brown won 10-6.
“You have to really want to win at that point because you’re tired, it was hot, you’re just exhausted,” Wolfe said. “You’ve got 30 minutes in between matches. To end that way, (that means) they wanted to win, and they played fabulous.”
Sophia Biggins, left, and Mallory Hutton, right, won the No. 4 doubles bracket at the Perkins Invite. Photo courtesy Lisa Wolfe
At No. 4, Biggins and Hutton had their toughest test in the opening round, also against Anthony Wayne. They Lady Giants dropped the first set, 2-6 before rebounding to win the second 6-1. They went on to win the tiebreaker, 10-8.
But their day wasn’t a cakewalk at that point. Biggins and Hutton started slow in the second match, against Sandusky, before rebounding to win in straight sets 6-4, 7-5. They then won their championship 6-2, 6-1 over Perkins.
“Their first round was at Sandusky High School where there were just four (courts) playing, so they were kind of isolated in the first round,” Wolfe said. “Then what they do is bring them back to Perkins for the second round and I think it was a little overwhelming for them, with the number of people that were watching. They had a harder time staying focused in the second round.
“They played really well in the last round for the championship.”
The No. 1 doubles team of Gillian Gallagher and Lily Abdoo won their first and third matches but dropped their second-round match and finished in third place.
Berlin Swaisgood and Jurni Kidd won their first match but dropped their next two matched and finished fourth at No. 3 doubles.
The tournament ended a week that included three dual matches, all Lady Giant victories, including its TRAC opener at Whitmer.
Ross continues its TRAC season Tuesday at home against Findlay at 4:30.
“I think they’re over-the-top with confidence right now,” Wolfe said. “They’re gaining all this court experience, whether it be singles or doubles or a bit of both. I’m so proud.”