By David Paulsen
SPORTS CORRESPONDENT
A fifth-place finish in the Southern Lakes Conference tournament, plus a fourth-place finish in the dual portion of the SLC, left the Burlington High School girls tennis team fourth overall in the SLC final standings.
The Demons earned six points for three dual wins, and six points for their fifth-place finish in the SLC Tournament to finish with 12 points overall.
Lake Geneva Badger and Union Grove tied for SLC crown with 24 points each, with Waterford third with 20. Westosha Central finished with 10 points, Elkhorn eight, Delavan-Darien six and Wilmot four.
The tournament began Thursday, and was to be completed on Saturday. Rain, though, postponed the finals matches until Monday.
The best finishes for the Demon girls in the SLC Tournament came at No. 1 and No. 2 doubles.
At No. 1 doubles, Ali Zeman and Olivia Leuck won their opening match 6-2, 6-1, but lost their second-round match 6-1, 6-3. In the third-place match, the pair defeated the Union Grove duo of Megan Larson and Dana Bauer 6-0, 6-3.
At No. 2 doubles, Lydia Crabtree and Sierra Koenen, who came into the tournament as the No. 1 seed, won their opening match 7-5, 6-4, but lost 6-1, 7-5 in the second round. The loss was to a Westosha Central pair they had not played this year.
Head coach Rose Dolatowski noted that Crabtree and Koenen were up 5-2 in the second set, but then lost five games in a row.
“It was an off day,” Dolatowski said. “They just couldn’t right their ship.”
In the third-place match, Crabtree and Koenen defeated Elkhorn’s Lindsay Klemp and Taylor Reed 6-2, 6-2.
The No. 3 doubles team of Paige Puntillo and Laura Christoph also won their opening match (6-0, 6-1), but lost their next two matches to finish fourth.
In singles action, all four Demon girls lost their opening matches, but three of them rebounded to win their second-round matches before losing their fifth-place matches.
Dolatowski noted that because Coral Miller, who she had slated to play No. 1 singles, was still injured, she was not allowed to simply substitute a player at the position. As a result, she had to move No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4 singles players up one spot, and then add Kayla Ludwig at No. 4.
At No. 2 singles, Jurecki lost 6-0, 6-0 in the opening round, but rebounded with a 2-6, 6-4 (10-8) win in the opening consolation round match.
Courtney Wieners came back from a 6-2, 6-1 opening round loss to win her second match 6-4, 6-4 at No. 3 singles.
Ludwig, after losing 6-3, 6-1 in her first match, won her next two matches to take fifth place. She won her opening consolation round match 6-1, 6-1, and took the fifth-place match 6-0, 6-1.
Although Sophie Grandi failed to win a match at No. 1 singles, she did play well in her second-round loss to Waterford’s Alyssa Schimelfengy. Earlier in the fall, Grandi had lost 6-1, 6-1 to Schimelfenyg. This time, Grandi won the opening set 6-4, lost the second set 6-1, and then dropped the tiebreaker 12-10.
“It was a good loss,” Dolatowski said, noting how much Grandi had improved.
Burlington will host the WIAA sub-sectionals on Monday.
Dolatowski noted that Grandi will be at No. 1 singles at sub-sectionals, but hopes to have Miller available at No. 2 singles. If not, she will be able to substitute a player at that position.
Sectional action will take place on Wednesday, Oct. 3, at Lake Geneva Badger.
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