Monday morning’s snow left a lot of moisture on the Columbus East tennis courts, so the crosstown rivalry match was moved to Columbus North.
The co-No. 13 Bull Dogs proved to be ungracious hosts with a 4-1 victory.
“We just came out, and we killed it,” North senior No. 2 singles player Madelyn Sanders said. “We played our hardest that we could, and I definitely think that we put everything out there.”
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Click here to purchase photos from this galleryThe Bull Dogs (2-0) won the first three matches with relative ease. Eva Chevalier and Servanne Cloteaux beat Madelyn Rhodes and Jenna Shoaf 6-1, 6-0 at No. 1 doubles, Ali Bergman and Jaline Tay downed Louna Prince and Ayano Nomura 6-2, 6-1 at No. 2 doubles, and Shweta Srinivasan topped Emie Kiser 6-0, 6-2 at No. 3 singles.
Sanders then finished off a 6-3, 6-0 win against Kathryn Hodzen at No. 2 singles.
“I think going into the match, we felt like we had an advantage at those three spots, and 1 and 2 singles were going to be the more challenging matches,” North coach Kendal Hammel said. “Madelyn is a competitor. She’s a fighter, and she figured some things out and did a very good job.”
By far, the night’s most competitive battle came at No. 1 singles. East’s Megna Chari outlasted North’s Yijaing Zhao 7-6 (4), 2-6, (11-9)
Chari trailed 5-2 in the first set and 9-8 in the third-set super tiebreaker.
“It felt good,” Chari said. “I just focused on my shots and my consistency and tried to force her to make the mistakes.”
Chari overcame three set points in the first set and one match point in the super tiebreaker.
“That was a very gutty performance there at the end,” Malinsky said. “She was having to play all kind of different styles throughout that match. She did a good job switching between different strategies and tactics and styles in order to pull that one out.”
Both the Bull Dogs and Olympians (1-1) had played only one match before Monday because of rain, snow and cold weather. North was twice rained out of matches at Center Grove and had the Floyd Central Invitational canceled over the weekend.
“It’s been hard for everybody,” Hammel said. “I don’t think we’ve really had a chance yet to go through all the challenge match play that I would like to do. But everybody is in the same situation right now.”
