Photo by Jake McNeill: Marshall’s Kyra Bailey returns a shot during a singles No. 3 match against Pipestone Area’s Kate Hanson on Monday in Marshall. The Tigers picked up a 4-3 win over the Arrows.

MARSHALL — A pair of doubles wins and a pair of singles victories led the Marshall girls tennis team past Pipestone Area by a score of 4-3 on Monday. The win came despite some absences forcing Marshall to scramble around its doubles lineups.

“I think anything that can build your confidence at this point is important. We’re closer to the end than we are to the beginning,” Marshall head coach Alex Cleppe said, adding that the team’s upcoming matches against New Ulm, Luverne and Tri-City United are all important. “As long as we can keep building confidence in all those matches, that’s going to be huge as we go into the section tournament.”

Jazilyn Steinberg-Jones and Emry Jans paired up in the top doubles match against Pipestone’s Ava Boucher and Olyvia Weber. Steinberg-Jones and Jans were consistent across the match, winning each of the two sets by a score of 6-3.

“We just made sure to warm up together so we can get into the same mindset before the match, and then it’s really important for us throughout the match to keep communicating with each other,” Steinberg-Jones said of playing with a different partner after spending most of the season with Emry Weller, while Jans typically plays with Julia Pafko.

The Tigers also earned a win in doubles No. 2, with Peyton and Eme DeMuth taking down Iva Witte and Emma Smidt 6-1, 6-2.

“I thought our kids today played well with their movement, finding a good time to hit the ball right in the middle of our strings,” Marshall head coach Alex Cleppe said. “It was good to see some rhythm develop throughout the match [with our different lineups] and partnerships growing as the match went on.”

Marshall also got a point in the top singles pairing from Brooklyn Mauch as she took on Vivian Brockberg. Mauch dominated her first set by a score of 6-1 and only got stronger, claiming a 6-0 win in the second set.

This is Mauch’s first year playing singles for the Tigers after being in the doubles rotation as a sophomore last year. Taking on the top singles performer against each opponent, Mauch has risen to the challenge so far.

“During practice, all my teammates helped me transition and they helped me practice and push myself,” Mauch said of the shift. “I don’t think I could have transitioned without all of them, and I’ve had help during the summer.”

The Tigers’ final point came in singles No. 4, where Cora Medina also picked up a lopsided 6-1, 6-0 win over Aleryn Brinkmeyer.

In singles No. 2, Kathryn Coudron pushed Jasmine Boeke to her limit in the first set before falling 7-5, and Boeke closed out the match with a 6-2 win in the second set. Kyra Bailey also lost 6-2, 6-3 to Kate Hanson in singles No. 3.

Pafko was paired up with Harlow Ogren after Jans was switched up to doubles No. 1 for the day. Harlow has spent most of the season in the junior varsity matches but played up well with her new teammate. Yet, the duo still fell 6-4, 6-1.

Marshall improves to 4-9 overall on the season, as well as 2-3 in section play.

“It’s definitely boosted our morale just because we need to start winning more games,” Mauch said of the win as the Tigers head into the final stretch of the season. “We haven’t done the best this season, but I think at the end of the season we’ll start picking it up and we’ll be better.”

The Tigers will remain on their home court today, when they host New Ulm at 4:30 p.m. for the second of four matches in five days. Three of those four matches will be played in Marshall.

“I think [playing at home] helps create a routine that’s good for them… If we can keep it consistent, that’s a good thing,” Cleppe said. “We have no problem traveling, sometimes it’s just a part of how the schedule breaks down that we had a lot of home matches coming up this week. Hopefully we can take advantage of that, win some matches and put ourselves in a good position come section-seeding time.”