MARSHALL — Despite dropping the first two singles sets, the Marshall tennis team used its depth to secure a 5-2 win over New Ulm. The win marks the Tigers’ seventh victory in their last eight matches. It was also the Tigers’ first section win.

“We play a tough subsection and overall our section is very tough. We have some great teams down here in our subsection. St. Peter’s always a good team up there at the top, Jordan is consistently tough, so it was nice to get one in for us. We can hopefully start rattling off a couple more here, but New Ulm was a tough competitor,” Marshall head coach Alex Cleppe said. “Any section win you can get here is an important one, no matter what time of year it is. We’re just fortunate that we came out on the right end of this one.”

Marshall’s doubles pairings all won decisively. Eliza Holmgren and Olivia Penske took down Lana Braun and Peyton Kveno 6-1, 6-0 and Reagan Boerboom and Aubrey Schaefer defeated Lexi Schneider and Aubrey Demarais 6-0, 6-4. Reese Graven and Lily Verkinderen completed the doubles sweep with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Morgan Hauenstein and Hannah Davey.

Holmgren and Penske had developed chemistry as a duo from playing varsity together last season but the other duos were in flux before the season started. Still, they’ve developed an ability to play well together quickly.

“We’re kind of figuring it out as we go along and honestly I think what’s been good for them is they get along great as friends,” Cleppe said. “That’s helped with their communication, they’re all really willing to learn and listen about the movement and the coordination that we talked about with how they play, so they’ve really taken a hold to the coaching and it’s helped tremendously with them even on changeovers.”

Karlee Prahl and Lydia King secured New Ulm’s only match wins of the day. Prahl took down Marshall’s Taylor DePover 6-2, 6-0 in singles No. 1 while Kings defeated Naomi Schroeder 6-3, 6-3 in singles No. 2.

“[Prahl] is a good player, I look forward to seeing what she does the rest of the year and going into individuals because I think she could be a force to be reckoned with when it comes to the postseason,” Cleppe said.

Once again, Marshall’s depth shined through with a pair of wins in singles three and four. Siri Christensen defeated Joci Pettersen 6-2, 6-2 to clinch the match and Justine Kirst put some icing on the cake with a 6-0, 6-1 win over Carmen Schotzko.

Marshall has 12 to 14 girls capable of competing at the varsity level right now, Cleppe said, adding that it makes for tough decisions because they only have 10 varsity spots but it puts the team in a good position.

“When you have the numbers like I think we have that can compete, it causes some good competition and practice,” Cleppe said. “I’d rather have too many kids competing for spots than not enough, so having the numbers we have is great. I think our kids our constantly competition mode.”

Marshall (8-3) gets its first section victory with the win. The Tigers will try to keep the momentum rolling when they go on the road to face Mankato East and Lakeville North at Mankato Prairie Winds Middle School on Friday at 9 a.m.

“I think just the emphasis is that it’s going to be good to get back to practice actually the next couple of days. It seems like we’ve had seven matches, it feels like, since we’ve practiced, but I think it’ll just be good to kind of refocus on some fundamentals, revisit some things for our girls and it will just be kind of a good natural reset,” Cleppe said on preparing for the triangular.

Photo by Jake McNeill: Marshall’s Naomi Schroeder returns a shot during a No. 2 singles match against New Ulm’s Lydia King during the Tiger tennis team’s 5-2 win over the Eagles in Marshall on Tuesday afternoon.