Making the Comeback

RED OAK — The Red Oak Tigers girls’ tennis team picked up two close wins at home, last week.

Their biggest win was a comeback against the Lewis Central Titans Thursday evening at the Indoor Courts of the Montgomery County Family YMCA.

“I thought everybody played hard and I think it speaks to how far we’ve come since the first dual,” Red Oak Tennis Coach Dan Martinez said. “[Lewis Central] beat Glenwood, and we were right there with Glenwood.”

Red Oak won the meet over Lewis Central, 5-4. The difference was the No. 3 doubles match between Erica Sherman and Abbey Swanson, versus Amy Epperson and Aly Shea. Sherman and Swanson picked up the 8-6 win to clinch the meet for Red Oak.

“I really wanted to beat them, they beat Glenwood, we lost to Glenwood,” Swanson said after the match.

Sherman and Swanson had trailed Epperson and Shea, 5-3, in the match, when they rallied to tie the match and eventually take the lead.

“I was just thinking, I just wanted to win,” Sherman said. “I just focused really hard on it because, it's just a key point to keep your serves in.”

Martinez said meets often come down to the No. 3 doubles match.

“I thought the girls handled the pressure well. It was a great dual for us to improve on, build confidence on,” Martinez said. “This young team is definitely showing improvement.”

Red Oak was able to tie the match with Lewis Central thanks to an 8-6 win by Zoey Baker and Grace Blomstedt over Carly Demarque and Natalie Burton.

Kate Walker and Paige Vannausdle lost their doubles match to Abby Bergsten and Maddie Misfeldt, 8-3.

Red Oak started out the meet losing their first three singles matches. Walker lost in the first seeds battle to Bergsten, 8-2. Vannausdle lost to Misfeldt and Baker lost to Burton, both by an 8-6 score.

Blomstedt started the comeback for Red Oak with a 9-7 win over Demarque.

“Grace did it with positive energy,” Martinez said. “I was very proud of Grace.”

Sherman and Swanson followed up with wins in their singles matches. Sherman won 8-5 over Epperson, while Swanson had an 8-1 win against Shea.

Red Oak is now 4-2 for the season.

Last Tuesday, Red Oak got over the .500 mark with a 5-4 win against against Shenandoah.

“It was going to be a make or break week, one way or another,” Martinez said about both matches.

Red Oak won four of six singles matches. Vannausdle picked up the first Red Oak win by defeating Mackenzie Johnson, 8-2. Blomstedt also had an 8-2 win, defeating Ashton Matheny.

Swanson won 8-4 over Hannah Dailey and Sherman defeated Jordan Major, 8-3.

Walker and Baker had the lone singles losses. Walker lost 8-2 to Kimberly Graf and Baker lost 8-5 to Tarynne Kinghorn.

Sherman and Swanson had the lone doubles win for the Tigers as they defeated Dailey  and Emma Christensen, 8-3. Blomstedt and Adrienne Mahoney lost to Kinghorn and Matheny, 8-2 and Walker and Vannausdle lost to Graf and Johnson, 8-1.

The girls' will be on the road Tuesday to compete against Clarinda. Thursday, they’ll be home for a meet against Atlantic.