After playing three ranked teams in Saturday’s Floyd Central Invitational, Columbus North coach Kendal Hammel talked to his team at staying on top of its game Monday against Columbus East.
The 12th-ranked Bull Dogs did just that. They lost only one game at all five positions and needed only about 50 minutes to post a 5-0 victory.
“We just wanted to make sure we didn’t get out there and get a little sloppy and just lose our focus,” Hammel said. “I wanted to make sure we were ready to play and continue what we were supposed to be doing after having a couple of really strong teams this weekend.”
The Bull Dogs (5-1) took advantage of an injury to the Olympians’ Megna Chari. Chari, who played No. 1 singles for East as a freshman and sophomore and part of her junior year and was part of last year’s state runner-up doubles team with Kathryn Hodzen, has been battling a calf injury and played No. 2 singles.
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Hodzen has been playing No. 1 singles for East (2-2), and Monday, she fell 6-1, 6-0 to North freshman Ashlie Wilson.
“I know Kathryn is a really good player, and she played really well, too, and it was a tough match,” Wilson said. “I’ve never actually played her before, so I wasn’t sure how the match was going to turn out.”
The Bull Dogs’ Eva Chevalier beat Chari 6-1, 6-0 at No. 2 singles.
“She has injuries right now, so she can’t really run, so for me, it didn’t really feel like a real match,” Chevalier said. “So I just pulled myself together. We have an amazing team this year, and I’m so proud of every single player.”
The No. 3 singles match also ended in a 6-1, 6-0 score, with North’s Tiffany Fu topping Louna Prince.
The Bull Dogs’ Shweta Srinivasan and Jaline Tay beat Emie Kiser and Ayano Nomura 6-0, 6-1 at No. 2 singles. North’s Servane Cloteaux and Ali Bergman downed Cathrine Millwood and Cristina Marco 6-1, 6-0 at No. 2 doubles.
“We knew going into the match with Megna being injured, I knew she was going to be hurting in that aspect, and then with Kathryn being more of a doubles player vs. a singles player, the matches went pretty much like I thought they probably would,” Hammel said.
East coach Matt Malinski said there were some things his team could have done better, but couldn’t take anything away from the way the Bull Dogs played.
“Obviously, I was hoping some more things would go our way,” Malinsky said. “I don’t think anybody played particularly well, whether that was just due to nerves or that the other team was playing very well. We definitely have some things we can work on in practice now that we know we need to improve upon. Hopefully, we’ll take those things going forward from here and just get better.”
