By Mike Ramczyk
Though there’s still two weeks before the start of the school year, the Burlington girls tennis team isn’t wasting any time sitting on the sidelines.
The team, which features six new girls to varsity, started out 2-7 at the Badger 16 Invite last weekend at Badger High School.
With 34 girls in the program, there is plenty of reason for optimism, but head coach Rose Dolatowski, now in her 29th year, must says it will be a rebuilding year.
“I hope to be close to .500 in conference,” Dolatowski said. “Our plan is to advance individuals to postseason play.”
Last postseason, Lacey Londre advanced to sectionals and capped off a strong career with a second team all-conference selection.
The Demons must replace the graduated Londre and the No. 1 doubles team of Alyssa Caliva and Katie Daujotas, which earned second team all-county and all-conference honors last year.
So far, junior May Jagodzinski and senior Grace Boyle have picked up the slack.
Jagodzinski, who was the No. 2 singles Racine County champion and earned second team all-county as a sophomore, is 8-1 at No. 1 singles, and she and Boyle have won all their doubles matches.
Boyle, who was a No. 3 doubles county champ last year, is 7-2 at No. 2 singles.
Dolatowski said the team is close.
“We lost a couple of close matches this past weekend,” she said. “We’ve lost many matches in tie-breaks.”
Adrianna Castillo and Josie Klein return at Nos. 1 and 2 doubles.
Key newcomers that will round out the varsity lineup are junior Sydney Meier at No. 3 singles and junior Savannah Donegan at No. 4 singles, along with senior Caitlin Kelsey and junior Caitlin Matson at No. 2 doubles and senior Hannah Lois and junior Kate Zott at No. 3 doubles.
Dolatowski said other players that will see playing time include seniors Rachel Way and Paige Taylor as well as juniors Meghan Savaglia and Emily Ball.
The Demons were 4-8 overall last year and 4-3 in the SLC.
Assistant coaches are Emily Grossen and Kelsey Erickson.
Burlington 4, Elkhorn 3
At last weekend’s invite, the Demons edged the Elks thanks to strong doubles play.
Boyle and Jagodzinski won at No. 1 doubles, 6-2, 7-5, and Castillo and Klein took a 6-1, 6-2 victory at No. 2 doubles.
Matson and Way also won in straight sets at No. 3 doubles, 6-3, 6-0.
Lois was the Demons’ lone winner in singles, with a 6-2, 6-4 victory at No. 3 singles.
Burlington 5, Waterford 2
The Demons improved to 3-7 overall thanks to an impressive showing at Waterford Tuesday in their SLC opener.
Winners included Jagodzinski, Boyle and Meier in the first three singles slots, while the doubles teams of Castillo and Klein (No. 1) and Lois and Zott (No. 3) won at doubles.
Schedule
(HOME GAMES CAPS)
August – 24: at Wilmot. 29: WESTOSHA CENTRAL. 31: UNION GROVE. September – 7: at Delavan-Darien. 13: RACINE CASE. 14: at Badger. 18: ELKHORN. 21-23: SLC meet at Delavan-Darien. 28: at Waukesha Sout
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