The Bluejay girls kicked off the Valley season by visiting Wausau East last Thursday, and fell 6-1 to a strong Lumberjack squad.
“We opened our (conference) season against Wausau East, which is the team that will most likely be our toughest opponent in the Wisconsin Valley Conference this year,” Thompson said. “Their number one doubles team went to state last year, and they also have a lot of depth with their singles players.
“Leah Johnson took her match to three sets, but was unable to get the win. The bright spot for our team was at number two doubles with Karina Baacke and Mandy Vonderheid, who won in straight sets. They worked so well as a team. Karina worked to set up a lot of the winning shots by hitting the ball deep and making her opponents run back and forth until they were forced to hit a poor shot and then Mandy would put it away at the net.”
The Baacke/Vonderheid duo pulled out a 6-4, 6-3 match. Johnson was tipped 6-3, 3-6, 6-1.
At #1 doubles, Jolene Ladewig/ Morgan Wilde team lost 6-2, 6-3, and #3 Laura Reimann/Amanda Leitzke was bumped 6-4, 6-2. Singles losses came from #2 Annie DeBroux (6-1, 6-1), Chloe Krahn (7-5, 6-1) and Thereses Renaud (6-2, 6-2).
Merrill had planned on hosting Lakeland last Tuesday, but the Thunderbirds pulled out.