Photo by Jake McNeill: Marshall's Siri Christensen returns a point during a singles No. 4 match against Lily Bible in the No. 4 Tigers' 4-3 win over No. 5 New Prague in Marshall on Wednesday.

MARSHALL – Siri Christensen’s No. 4 singles match was the last match remaining in No. 4 Marshall’s 2AA team subsection match against No. 5 New Prague on Wednesday afternoon. The Trojans had taken the first 3 points of the day but Marshall took the next 3, leaving all eyes on the Marshall senior’s match against Lily Bible. In the end, Christensen prevailed in the back-and-forth match to secure the point and allow Marshall to move on to the subsection semifinals with a 4-3 win.

“I was just trying to stay calm,” Christensen said of the match. “That’s the hardest thing for me sometimes in matches, so just staying steady and taking it one point at a time.”

The quarterfinal matchup was originally slated for Tuesday but was postponed shortly after it started due to a thunderstorm. Marshall will now have a quick turnaround as it takes on No. 1 Prior Lake Thursday at 4 p.m.

Christensen took the first set of her match 6-4 before Bible evened things up with a 3-6 win. As if coming down to a tiebreaker set wasn’t enough drama, Bible rallied from down 5-4 to take a 6-5 lead. Christensen then won the next game to force a 7-point tiebreaker.

“It’s fun with good competition to have matches like that,” Christensen said of coming from behind to force the tiebreaker. “Just trying to stay consistent… knowing that I can get back ahead too and tie it up again.”

In the tiebreaker, Christensen looked to have all momentum on her side. She jumped out to an early 4-1 lead before closing out the match with a 7-3 win.

“It’s just a sense of relief that we get to play the tiebreakers… and then it’s right a transition into, ‘alright, here we go. Can we figure out how to get the tiebreaker to go our way,'” Marshall head coach Alex Cleppe said of his thought process after Christensen came back in the third set. “She’s a senior, she’s had her ups and downs over the course of her career, so to see her today kind of dig in and find that senior battle was really awesome. That’s a true testament to the kind of player she’s become throughout the course of her career.”

When matches resumed on Wednesday after Tuesday’s delay, New Prague came out strong to take the first three matches. Naomi Schroeder fell 6-1, 6-2 to Iris Trygestad in singles No. 2, Reese Graven and Lily Verkinderen lost 6-2, 6-2 to Maggie Giesen and Ava Farrell in doubles No. 2 and Aubrey Schaefer and Reagan Boerboom lost 7-5, 6-0 to Jeri Sackett and Kirsten Overgaard in doubles No. 3. While Marshall was facing an 0-3 hole, Cleppe said that he still felt good about where his team was at. Based on where matches had left off on Tuesday and the way the Tigers’ matchups against the Trojans were set up, he knew it would still come down to the wire.

“It’s always fun. I made a couple of comments to their coach [Jamie Schoenbauer], our coach [Kari Loft], I know this is going to be a 4-3 match just the way this match is going,” Cleppe said. “They’re a heck of a team. I mean, that’s a tough team. We just played very even matches across the board. As you saw in four singles, one point here or there makes a big difference.”

The first domino to fall in Marshall’s comeback was Taylor DePover defeating Carley Motz in singles No. 1. She came into the day having won six of her previous seven matches and kept the momentum rolling for a 6-4, 6-1 win to keep Marshall alive. From there, she immediately started walking to the other courts to cheer on her rallying teammates.

“We always try to go out there and cheer for each other and cheer on yourself. It’s really important that we always try to watch each other and give each other support, even when we’re so far away from each other,” DePover said. “Doubles cheers for singles, singles cheers for doubles, it’s really important to keep those high spirits up.”

Across the median, Olivia Penske and Eliza Holmgren took down Savannah Ryburn and Ellie Thomas 6-3, 6-2 in doubles No. 1 to shift all focus to singles No. 3 and 4 on adjacent courts in the Marshall High School tennis complex.

In No. 3, Justine Kirst was battling against Ella Blackford. Kirst took the first set 6-3 but there are no easy wins in the section tournament. Blackford battled back in the second set to tie the match at 5-5, making the set one of only three sets on the day that was extended past six games. Still, Kirst came out on top with a 7-5 victory to keep Marshall alive.

Looking ahead to the section semifinals, the Tigers have a tall task ahead of them in Prior Lake. Still, they’re looking forward to the challenge.

“We’re all excited. We’re looking to keep our spirits high and just keep trying to keep our knees bent,” DePover said.

Cleppe acknowledged that Prior Lake is the No. 1 seed for a reason, but that Marshall will meet as a team to regroup and mentally prepare to compete at the highest level.

“We’re going to do our best just to talk about it and try to get our minds refocused for tomorrow as best we can. It’s playoffs, this is what you live for,” Cleppe said. “We’re not going to complain about playing another day.”