OREGON – The Lady Giant tennis team has enjoyed a strong season in 2018, but this weekend’s TRAC tournament ended with disappointment.
Ross entered the tournament in a tie with Findlay and Clay with records of 3-4 in TRAC duel match play, making the Lady Giants believe, with a break or two, they could finish as high as fourth in the league.
But out of five flights of tennis, the Lady Giants had only two finish in the place they were seeded, while three others finished a place below their tournament seed. In the end. The Lady Giants finished with 16 points, placing them sixth in both the tournament the final league standings.
“Every person has to do their job, according to their seed and it would have made a huge difference between Findlay (and Clay) above us,” coach Lisa Wolfe said. “Every point, every difference of placement would have made a he difference in why we ended up in sixth place instead of, possibly fourth.”
The only Lady Giants to win their opening-round match were the No. 1 doubles team of Gillian Gallagher and Lily Abdoo, defeating their counterparts from Whitmer, 6-0, 6-0. Their second-round match saw them in a rematch with a Notre Dame team they defeated early in the season 7-5, 7-5. Gallagher and Abdoo won the first set in tight fashion, 7-6 (7-5), but then lost the next two sets, 3-6, 3-6.
The Lady Giants then defeated St. Ursula Academy 6-2, 6-4 to finish in third place, despite entering the tournament as a No. 2 seed.
“Notre Dame played better that day,” Wolfe said. “From the duel match to this match, you’ve got to play your ‘A’ game and unfortunately they didn’t have their ‘A’ game. As far as I’m concerned, they lost some focus.”
The No. 2 doubles team of Sophia Biggins and Berlin Swaisgood met a similar fate, losing to a team they’d defeated earlier in the season. Biggins and Swaisgood lost their opening-round match to Toledo Central Catholic, 3-6, 4-6, though the teams had played one another in a duel match earlier in the week where Biggins/Swaisgood had won 6-0, 7-5.
“That was the killer right there,” Wolfe said.
Biggins and Swaisgood rebounded, winning their final two matches, by scores of 6-0, 6-0 and 6-4, 6-3, to finish fifth after entering the tournament seeded fourth.
At No. 3 singles, Vivyanna Esquivel began the tournament as the sixth seed and finished sixth after winning her second of three matches, defeating her opponent from Whitmer, 6-3, 6-3.
No. 2 singles player Emma Jahns also placed where she was seeded, seventh, after winning her final match of the tournament, 6-0, 6-0 over Lima Senior. Her second-round match saw her just edged out, 5-7, 6-7, by Whitmer.
“If you can come out of the tournament where you’re seeded (coming in) you’ve done your job,” Wolfe said. “But there is always hope someone does just a pinch better.”
Lillie Swinhart entered No. 1 singles as a No. 7 seed, lost her two matches on Friday then forfeited her final match due to a schedule conflict, placing her eighth in the tournament.
The Lady Giants’ host two more duel matches this season, Wednesday against Huron and their season-finale against Port Clinton next week before sectional play at home on Oct. 3. Gallager and Abdoo are seeded No. 2 in the doubles tournament with Biggins and Swaisgood earning a No. 4 seed.
“We’re going to try to forget what happened but still it should be in the back of everybody’s mind that they should have done a better job on their court.”