Wolverine netters excel at two area invites

By David Paulsen
SPORTS CORRESPONDENT
In their opening Southern Lakes Conference action, the Waterford High School girls’ tennis squad pulled out a 5-2 win over SLC foe Burlington Tuesday.
Four of the seven matches went three sets, with the two teams splitting those four matches.
Sydney Ciano won a three-set match over Coral Miller, losing the first set 6-3, but coming back to take the next two sets 6-3, 6-4.
The other three-set win for the Wolverines came at No. 1 doubles, where Alyssa Helwig and Bridget Brockmann defeated Ali Zeman and Olivia Leuck. Helwig and Brockmann took the first set 7-5, lost the second 6-2, but bounced back with a 6-3 win in the deciding set.
Waterford dominated singles action, winning three of four matches, including Ciano’s three-set victory.
At No. 1 singles, Alyssa Schimelfenyg had little trouble with Sophie Grandi, winning 6-1, 6-1.
At No. 3 singles, Emily Brekke won 6-2, 6-3 over Kayla Ludwig.
The fifth Wolverine match win came at No. 3 doubles, where Taylor Webb and Emily Rogahn defeated Laura Christoph and Paige Puntillo 6-1, 6-3.
While competing in two invitationals last week, the Wolverine School girls’ performed very well.
The Wolverine girls first competed in the South Milwaukee Invitational, a 16-team event.
“Waterford ended up in fifth place for the tournament, but overall had the best record of 23-2,” head coach Linda Jones said.
On Aug. 15, Waterford opened with a 7-0 win over Cudahy. The girls then faced Grafton, the winner of the invite, and lost 5-2.
Action on Aug. 16 was rained out and rescheduled for Aug. 17. On that day, Waterford defeated St. Francis 7-0, and Racine Horlick by an identical score.
On Saturday, the Wolverines participated in the Racine Park Invite held at Racine Case High School. Overall, the girls dominated the event.
The three doubles winners were Brockmann and Helwig at No. 1, Katie Queram and Kate Weber at No. 2, and Taylor Webb and Samantha Goetz at No. 3.
Brockmann and Helwig were never threatened, taking the opening match 6-1, 6-0, and the championship match 6-0, 6-1.
Queram and Weber had a tough time of it, going three sets in their match before pulling out a 6-4, 4-6, 10-8 victory. They then sailed through the championship match 6-1, 6-2.
Webb and Goetz won their opening match 6-2, 6-4, and then dominated the championship match 6-1, 6-2.
At No. 1 singles, Alyssa Schimelfenyg won her opening match 7-6 (4), 6-3, but lost the championship match to Union Grove’s Jessica Degroot 6-3, 6-4.
Ciano, at No. 2 singles, opened with a 6-4, 6-3 win, and followed that up with a 6-2, 6-2 win. She won her bracket with a 6-3, 6-1 triumph in the championship match.
Brekke won the No. 3 singles bracket.