The Columbus East girls tennis team didn’t have a lot of trouble rolling past Madison 4-1 in the Hoosier Hills Conference consolation round Wednesday.
“They took care of business pretty well tonight,” East coach Matt Malinsky said. “We’ve been a little beat up lately with all of the matches, but we had a pretty good practice (Tuesday) and we did a nice job going out there and getting the win tonight.”
The Olympians (10-6) will play at Jennings County in the HHC fifth-place match on Friday.
At No. 1 singles, East’s Kathryn Hodzen had no trouble claiming the first set 6-1, but Madison’s Kourtney Neukam gave Hodzen some trouble early on in the second set. Hodzen rallied to claim the set 6-4 to finish off the match.
“I just stayed calm and to keep playing my best,” Hodzen said. “I knew if I played my best I’d be able to do it. It was a matter of me keeping cool and not getting frustrated so easily.”
The most competitive match came at No. 1 doubles, where the Olympians Louna Prince and Cristina Marco won the first set 6-3, but Olivia Kelley and Renee Walker of the Cubs climbed back to claim the second set 7-6 (5). Since the team match was decided, they played a super-tiebreaker, where Kelley and Walker were victorious 10-5.
At No. 2 singles, Megna Chari of East blanked Wiley Gross of Madison 6-0, 6-0. At No. 3 singles, Ayano Nomura of the Olympians defeated Emma Lostutter of the Cubs 6-2, 6-1. At No. 2 doubles, East’s Cathrine Millwood and Emie Kiser downed Madison’s Grace Brautigam and Ana Reiff 6-3, 6-1.
