By David Paulsen
SPORTS CORRESPONDENT
The Southern Lakes Conference Tournament was good to four Waterford High School girls tennis players.
The four were paired up as two of the Wolverine doubles teams and they emerged as SLC champions.
At No. 1 doubles, Alyssa Helwig and Bridget Brockmann, who were seated No. 2 and were 6-0 in SLC action, opened with a 6-1, 6-0 win over Wilmot, and followed that up with a 6-2, 6-0 win over Megan Larson and Dana Bauer of Union Grove.
That pitted them against the No. 1 seeded team, Sam Hoyord and Kylie Bliss of Delavan-Darien. Helwig and Brockmann earned the title with a 6-4, 6-3 victory.
“They played well,” head coach Linda Jones said. “They were the stronger team. They just took charge of the match from the beginning.”
At No. 3 doubles, Emily Rogahn and Taylor Webb were seeded No. 1, and they proved that seed to be accurate with a title.
“They have peaked at the opportune time,” Jones said. “It took a little while for them to gel.”
Jones added that Webb had been in a car accident the day before the tournament began and had been taken to the emergency room with bumps, contusions and bruised ribs.
“I didn’t expect her to play, but she was bound and determined to play,” Jones said, adding that Webb was very sore. “She persevered and did a great job.”
In their first match, Rogahn and Webb won 6-3, 6-1 over Delavan-Darien. In the semifinal match, they earned a 6-2, 6-4 win over Elkhorn.
In the finals, Rogahn and Webb faced Miranda Dam and Juli Luenburg of Union Grove and came away with a solid 6-1, 6-2 victory.
As a team, Waterford went into the tournament as the No. 3 team in the SLC, having earned 10 points from five dual victories. They held true to form in the tournament, finishing third, as well.
In the tournament, Lake Geneva Badger and Union Grove each earned 26 meet points, while Waterford was just two points back with 24.
“Only losing by two points was pretty darn good,” Jones said. “We had opportunities. We didn’t get any points for No. 2 doubles which hurt us.”
Union Grove and Badger tied for the SLC crown.
Besides the two titles, the Wolverine girls finished second in two more brackets and third in one.
Finishing second were Sydney Ciano at No. 2 singles and Hayley Ellie at No. 4 singles.
Ciano did not lose a single game in defeating Haley Jurecki of Burlington 6-0, 6-0 in her opening match. She then defeated Lauren Tuma of Union Grove 7-5, 6-2 in the semifinals before losing to Badger’s Lily Fisher 6-3, 6-0 in the finals.
Ellie opened with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Kayla Ludwig of Burlington and then defeated Madison Marsh of Union Grove 7-5, 6-2 in the semifinals. She lost 6-3, 6-4 in the finals to Badger’s Andrea Chironis. Ellie was up 4-1 in the second set against Chironis before losing the final five games.
Taking third was Emily Brekke at No. 3 singles. She defeated Burlington’s Courtney Wieners 6-2, 6-1 in her first match, but lost to Joanie Williams of Badger 6-4, 6-2 in the semifinals. In the third-place match, she defeated Kayleen Knoll of Wilmot 6-3, 6-0.
All three of those players went 2-1 in the tournament and won their opening match.
Alyssa Schimelfenyg also went 2-1 at No. 1 singles, but finished fifth because she lost her first match.
In her fifth-place match, she defeated Elkhorn’s Rachel White 6-4, 6-0. She had lost to White earlier this fall.
“Her game has really picked up,” Jones said, noting that Schimelfenyg is just a sophomore.
The No. 2 doubles team of Katie Queram and Kate Weber went 1-2 overall, winning their second match.
In last week’s edition, it was stated that Webb and Lauren Sikora won at No. 3 doubles in the team’s loss to Badger. Webb’s partner was not Sikora in that match, it was Emily Rogahn.
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