FREMONT – A trip to the district tennis tournament is nothing new for Gillian Gallagher and Lily Abdoo.
Gillian Gallagher
Lily Abdoo
The Lady Giant junior doubles partners have been to the district tournament twice already, but this year they’ll be heading there no worse than a No. 2 seed. And that is something new.
The duo won a pair of matches Thursday and will try to earn themselves a sectional tournament championship Saturday at 9 a.m.
Seeded No. 1 in the sectional tournament, Gallagher and Abdoo cruised to a victory in their first match. They defeated Sandusky’s Jenna Hofer/Marissa Esposito, 6-1, 6-3, clinching a place in the sectional’s Final Four and qualifying for the district tournament. The Lady Giants, who enjoyed a first-round bye, were able to watch their opponents before, which they used to their advantage.
“Being able to watch them for an entire match was good for Gilli and Lily,” tennis coach Lisa Wolfe said. “They could scope out their weaknesses. They played aggressive net and the Sandusky girls sat back on the baseline. Our girls just took over with some angling net shots.”
While they rolled to victory over Sandusky, Ashland’s No. 2 doubles team of Gabrielle Bouquet and Eylse Laps proved more of a challenge as they won the first set over the Lady Giants, 6-1.
“At that point, it’s like, ‘Why do you want to go into district (seeded) third or fourth? You’ve done that twice before. Now it’s time for you to go into it either a No. 1 or No. 2.’ In the second set they turned it around.”
Gallagher and Abdoo rebounded, winning the second set 6-3 and then the third set, 6-4, moving them on to Saturday’s championship where they will face Ashland’s No. 1 team of Mary Mooney and Kaelin Frazee.
“Hopefully the result with the Ashland 1 (double team) will be the same as the Ashland 2,” Wolfe said.
The weather forecast for Saturday is uncertain. If rain is in the forecast, the championship match will be moved to Two’s Athletic Club in Toledo.
While Gallagher and Abdoo’s season will continue after Saturday, the rest of the Lady Giants were not as fortunate.
Ross’ No. 2 doubles team of seniors Olivia Henry and Natalie Brown saw their season’s end one match shy of qualifying for the district. They lost in two sets to Norwalk’s Macy Miller/Jordan Gren, 6-3, 6-2.
“Eventually, unless you win state, eventually you’re going to end with a loss, somewhere along the way,” Wolfe said. “But I was hoping they could get a taste of district, it just didn’t happen. I said ‘You have to focus on the great seasons that you had, with such an amazing record.”
Ross’ singles matches also failed to get past their first match of the day.
Mallory Hutton lost to Ashland’s Hannah Furness, 3-6, 6-4, 3-6, Berlin Swaisgood lost to Norwalk’s Megan Berry, 2-6, 1-6, and Jurni Kidd fell to Norwlk’s Lizzie Ratliff, 2-6, 2-6.