Coach Dwyer's Weekly Varsity Recap:
Week of 10/4/10 - 10/9/10
The Holy Family Girls Tennis Team began the Section 4A Tournament this week. Entering the tournament as the #5 seed, the Fire would face a tough first round opponent in #4 Mounds Park Academy, the defending State Champion. The Fire came away with the huge upset win on Tuesday, defeating the Panthers 4-3. Holy Family got off to a good start with a strong performance at #2 doubles. Seniors Adrienne Brausen and Cortney Hallahan defeated Croonquist and Mudge 6-0, 6-0 to get the Fire off to a 1-0 start. The Panthers answered back with wins at #1 and #3 singles. The Fire would go on to win the other two doubles matches, making the team score 3-2 with two matches remaining. Eighth grader Danielle Gannon played a fantastic match at #2 singles, losing a very close 3-set match to the two-time defending state doubles champion Kate Roach, 6-1, 2-6, 6-1. With the team match tied 3-3, all eyes were on the #4 singles match. Senior Kelli Burrows had dropped the first set to Kenzie Melton of the Panthers and was down 5-6 in the 2nd set. Burrows rallied to force the tiebreaker, and won the set to force an all-deciding 3rd set. Many of the points reached shot tallies into the 40’s and 50’s. Burrows fought her way to a 5-3 lead in the set, and with her 3rd match point sealed the upset win for the Fire with a strong forehand approach that Melton put into the net. This marked the first time the Fire advanced to the semi-finals since joining Section 4A four years ago.
With the win, on Wednesday the Fire traveled to The Blake School to play the #1 seed and current #1 ranked team in Class A. The ladies of Fire tennis played a fantastic match, but the Bears would prove to be too much, defeating the Fire 7-0 and ending their team season. The closest match of the day came at #2 doubles, as Seniors Adrienne Brausen and Cortney Hallahan lost to Fraley and Swanson of Blake 2-6, 6-4, 6-3. The Fire end their regular season with a very impressive 15-4 overall record. The Section 4A Individual Tournament will take place on Thursday and Friday of this week at Baseline Tennis Center in Minneapolis. Seniors Adrienne Brausen and Cortney Hallahan will pair together for doubles, as will senior Michelle Wiehoff and sophomore Isabel Tompkins. Wiehoff and Tompkins earned the #5 seed in a very tough field of doubles teams. Junior Lexi Lynch and sophomore Jess Menden will enter the singles tournament for the Fire.
