FREMONT – A long, hot day on the court paid off the Lady Giants’ top doubles tennis team.
Gillian Gallagher and Lily Abdoo combined to win No. 1 doubles championship Saturday as Ross hosted the Michaels Memorial Doubles Invitational.
Gillian Gallagher
Lily Abdoo
As a team, the Lady Giants took third in the event, finishing with 68 points, behind Findlay (85) and Sylvania Northview (82).
“In all honestly, the tournament was a very even tournament, it was a lot of fun, a lot of compliments,” Ross coach Lisa Wolfe said. “Just a lot of fun.”
Gallagher and Abdoo began their championship day by rolling over Port Clinton’s top doubles squad, 6-1, 6-0, before pulling out a close three-set match against Sandusky Perkins, 4-6, 7-5, 10-8.
That set up a championship match against Findlay’s Kaylor Stocker and Katelyn Coleman, two opponents Gallagher and Abdoo may well face again next week in the TRAC championship tournament. Saturday, however, Gallagher and Abdoo came out on top, knocking off the Trojan duo, 6-4, 6-2 to claim the championship.
“They did a great job,” Wolfe said of her championship duo. “The TRAC tournament is Friday and they’ll probably be running up against Findlay somewhere along the line. It was a great match.”
Berlin Swaisgood
Sophia Biggins
At No. 2 doubles, Sophia Biggins and Berlin Swaisgood advanced to the championship match before falling just short of claiming the title.
Their day began with a bang, taking a 6-4, 3-6, 10-8 win over Perkins before handling Port Clinton in the semifinal, 6-1, 6-4. In the final, against Northview, the Lady Giants fell by a score of 3-6, 3-6.
“They did very well,” Wolfe said. “Definitely, for today, the Northview team was on top of it. They definitely played better than Berlin and Sophia today.”
Emma Jahns and Vivyanna Esquivel suffered a disappointing first-round loss, 7-6 (7-4), 2-6, 6-10, to Northview before rebounding to win their last two matches. They won their second match of the day against Huron, 8-4, then topped Oak Harbor, 8-3 to finish fifth in their bracket.
Izzy Atkinson
Izzy Atkinson and Lillie Swinehart teams up at No. 4 doubles and rolled through their first match of the day, defeating Bowling Green 6-1, 6-0, before falling to Northview in semifinal, 3-6, 4-6. They then dropped the third-fourth-place match against Oak Harbor, 5-8.
Atkinson earned the tournament’s Sportsmanship Award, as voted on by the coaches.
“The top four, the No. 1 dubs and 2 dubs, did their job,” Wolfe said. “A little disappointing on the three and four level.”
Tuesday the Lady Giants travel to Toledo Central Catholic for their final TRAC duel match of the season before the TRAC tournament begins next Friday.