For a first match of the season, The Dalles girls’ tennis team faced a 5A Ridgeview team that previously posted an 8-0 shutout win last season.
This time around, however, the Riverhawks posted three singles wins and the No. 1 doubles team of Johanna Wilson and Anna Miller won a three-set thriller to produce a 4-4 tie with Ridgeview Tuesday in a non-league varsity tennis match played at The Dalles High School.
TD head coach Debby Jones said starting the year against a strong opponent is a little risky as far as building confidence, but her group proved they were up to the challenge.
“This is just really a great start for the girls,” Jones said. “The conditions weren’t ideal, it was a little breezy and cold, but the fight in all of the girls was impressive.”
Wilson and Miller stumbled out of the gates with a 6-3 loss in the opening set versus Ridgeview’s No. 1 doubles duo of Sierra Cassaro and Chloe Goodwin, but found a way to get in a groove over the next two sets.
The Riverhawk tandem had to work overtime in the second set, coming away with a 7-6 tiebreaker win to even things up at 1-apiece.
In the third set, Wilson and Miller continued their momentum and finished strong for a 10-6 tiebreaker triumph to put the match in their win column.
“It looked like it might be a short time on court for the two, but they settled down and put together a very strong comeback after dropping the first set,” Jones said. “Jo and Anna really played two solid tie breakers to pick up the win. I couldn’t be more pleased with how they performed this early in the season. A definite sign of great things to come.”
On the singles side, Kiana Pielli took control in her No. 2 singles match against Marie Carr for a straight-sets winner.
Pielli breezed in the opener by a 6-2 margin to go ahead 1-0, but the play was more contentious in the second set.
Both players battled to a 5-5 tie at one point, but Pielli then won the final two games to score a 7-5 win and a straight sets victory.
“I think Kiana was pretty pumped to get the season started off with a big win,” Jones said. “Kiana needed to come from behind to secure the win in the second set and I was pleased how she fought to the end.”
Following up on the winning trend established by Pielli, Rebekah Kohltfarber had a much easier time in her No. 3 singles match versus Ridgeview’s Lauren Bow.
Kohltfarber won in straight sets by dominant scores of 6-2 and 6-1 for her first career singles win.
At No. 4 singles, Leslie Luna-Lopez battled for three sets with Ridgeview’s Luza Jimenez with each players alternating wins and losses.
Jimenez won the opener by a 6-2 tally, but Luna-Lopez answered right back with a 6-3 win in the second set to send this match into a third-set tiebreaker.
The Riverhawk standout found her groove and reeled off a 10-4 rally to triumph.
“Picking up wins at No. 3 and No. 4 singles was really big,” Jones said. “Becca started strong and finished strong, handily defeating her opponent. Leslie had to wait quite a while for her turn and got off to a slow start, but turned the match around with solid, consistent play.”
At No. 1 singles, The Dalles’ Robin Pashek could not solve Riley Hanks, and the Raven standout pulled away by marks of 6-2 and 6-3.
Abby Minnick and Emma Ell-Smith lost their No. 2 doubles match to Ridgeview’s Caitlin Carr and Heidi Robnear by scores of 6-2 and 6-1.
Selena Lafontaine and Savannah King won their No. 3 doubles match, 6-2 and 6-2, over TD’s Ellie Trujillo and Cassie Vazquez, and the Raven duo of Alex Doyal and Yahilda Chavez came through for a 6-3, 6-0 winner over Tiani Langston and Julissa Marquez.
Jones said that Pashek, who has battled illness for the past few days, faced a tough Ridgeview opponent with a strong first serve that presented a tough set of circumstances.
“I think the match will be a good motivator for her,” Jones said of Pashek’s outcome. “The same can be said of the No. 2 doubles team of Abby Minnick and Emma Ell-Smith, who came up on the short end, losing their first match of the year. Ridgeview had great depth at doubles, where they picked up three of their four match wins.”
Jones’ goal was for her team to continue playing tennis in the offseason.
Through those hours on the court, the team has established depth, which provides competition in filling out varsity spots through the course of the season.
“It is a wonderful problem to have players battling against each other,” Jones said. “Sometimes that can be a more stressful and pressure packed than playing an unknown opponent.”
With one match in the books, Jones is encouraged with a tie against one of the better programs in the 5A classification.
It is all about building from here on out.
“This team has the potential to improve physically and mentally,” Jones said. “They have really been putting the effort in. This team is made up of student-athletes and I am thrilled to be a part of their journey.”
The Dalles next hosts Madras at 4 p.m. Thursday for another non-league tennis match.
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