Tiger tennis bounced by Mankato in 2AA tourney
MANKATO — The Marshall tennis team’s season as a group came to an end on Tuesday afternoon. In the second round of the Section 2AA tournament, the Tigers were matched up against a Mankato East/Loyola team that they lost 7-0 to earlier in the season. While Marshall made progress this time around, it wasn’t enough to pull out the win as they fell 6-1.
Mankato will play the winner of St. Peter and Mankato West in the section quarterfinals on Thursday, while Marshall will now prepare two singles and two doubles pairings for the individual section tournament, which will begin on Friday, Oct. 11 at Gustavus Adolphus College.
After falling shy in their first matchup against Mankato, the Tigers decided to play around with their lineup this time around. Marshall moved Justine Kirst up from No. 2 singles to No. 1 singles and swapped doubles players Makayli Burrell and Brooklyn Mauch into the singles No. 2 and 4 slots. In their place, singles No. 1 and No. 3, Taylor DePover and Aubrey Schaefer, teamed up in the first doubles pairing.
“I decided to put a different spin on the lineup, thinking that it would give us a better opportunity [to win],” Marshall head coach Alex Cleppe said. “I was looking at strategy to try to combat them and I thought our kids did well in the lineup spots. We just couldn’t execute the final points of games to put it away.”
Seeing her first action in varsity singles play, Brooklyn Mauch earned the Tigers their lone point of the match in singles No. 4. Taking on Mankato’s August Beltz, Mauch dropped the first set 4-6 before claiming a 6-4 win in the second set to force a tiebreaker. In the tiebreaker, she pulled out a 10-7 win to earn the point.
Cleppe said Mauch’s play at a junior varsity tournament earlier in the season showed that she had the versatility to switch over to singles play when needed, adding that he felt she played really well on Tuesday.
“The tight first set didn’t quite go her direction, but in the second set, she really was able to maneuver to find a victory and then got off the gremlin of the super tiebreaker,” Cleppe said. “She’s played in a lot of those super tiebreakers this season and not been able to quite get through it, so I was really happy for her that she was able to navigate it and finally get that victory.”
Mauch was the lone Tiger to claim a single set on the day as each of Marshall’s other singles and pairings lost in straight sets.
In doubles No. 1, DePover and Schaefer played about as competitively as a duo can in their loss to Boynja Flitter and Addie Wassman. In a set that could have gone either way, Marshall dropped the first 7-6 (3) before falling 6-3 in the second.
Peyton Boeck and Emry Weller also lost 6-4, 6-4 to Hannah Westman and Ashlyn Rigdon in doubles No. 2 while Olivia DeGroot and Jazilyn Steinberg-Jones lost 6-0, 6-3 against Sydney Cusick and Emily Hacker.
DePover, Boeck and DeGroot accounted for three of Marshall’s five seniors, in addition to Kirst and Burrell in the singles matches. With just two singles slots and two doubles pairings continuing their season at the individual section tournament, Tuesday marked the end of prep tennis for some of those players.
DePover is the Tigers’ longest-tenured player, joining the team as a seventh grader and being a key component for the last five years in particular, and Cleppe described her as a vocal leader for the group. Boeck and DeGroot have also been important to team chemistry, with Cleppe saying that Boeck showed tremendous growth from joining the team as a JV player last season to being a key doubles player as a senior, while DeGroot’s high energy has helped the team get some laughs and help the team appreciate the fun side of the sport.
Cleppe credited his seniors as being a key part of the team’s turnaround after its rocky start.
“That’s one of the things I touched on with the team was watching them go from a rough beginning of oh-and-7 to winning eight of their last 11 matches,” Cleppe said. “It shows the growth that those kids put in and I’m proud of the work that they put in at practice and matches to be in a position where I thought we could have some success today. All of our kids, they work their tails off.”
In singles No. 1, Kirst lost 6-0, 6-0 against Mankato’s Sam Williams while Burrell lost 6-0, 6-2 to Autumn Gaul in singles No. 2.
Cleppe said he felt Burrell played extremely well in the loss, going after every ball on the court but falling shy on a series of deuces that skewed the set scores. He also complimented Kirst on moving up to take on the challenge of No. 1 singles.
“[Kirst] has the most unorthodox style, and I love that style that she plays with because when she’s hitting on all cylinders, she’s got that nice touch around the net, good hustler and willing to take on any challenge that we give her,” Cleppe said.
In singles No. 3, Kathryn Coudron lost 6-3, 6-4 to Amelia Hacker.
Marshall finishes its season at 8-11 overall, 4-1 in conference and 2-4 in section. For the six Tigers who will advance to the individual section tournament, they’ll have some time off before they compete again on Oct. 11 at 9 a.m.
The Tigers have a semblance of a plan for who will be continuing their season, according to Cleppe. He added that they’ll formalize their plans more today but that the focus on Tuesday was about the team and the individuals could wait until all was said and done with the team season.