Lady Lynx nipped by 3 points at Metro conference

The Lady Lynx tennis team had to settle for fourth place at Saturday’s Metro Conference Championships, missing third by a mere three points. 

“We had a good round of singles with our top four flights tying for third place. In doubles, we had some great performances that unfortunately still led to losses,” Lynx head coach Adam Rothenberberger said.

Brandon Valley’s flight 2 doubles team of Kate Lundberg and Annabelle Schultz played heads-up tennis in the first set along with taking advantage of O’Gorman’s shaky performance. But after dropping the first set, the Lady Knights played more consistent tennis, tripping up Lundberg and Schultz.

“Kate and Bella battled until the end but were unable to stop O’G’s momentum,” he said.

Flight 1 doubles (Tanna Lehfeldt and Sydney Pelletier) also played a stellar match against O’G, going toe-to-toe with the eventual Metro doubles champs. 

“Tanna and Sydney were able to hit some great offensive and defensive shots to stay neck and neck with O’G, almost taking them to a first set tiebreaker,” losing a couple key deuce points, Rothenberger said. 

The Lynx duo had a  difficult time staying consistent in the second set and with fewer mistakes on the other side of the net, they succumbed to the Knights. 

Flights one and three doubles finished tied for third place. 

Rothenberger said his flight 3 team of Adriauna Alexander and Marie Pelletier “played a stereotypical flight 3 doubles match” against Roosevelt, winning big the first set, losing big the second, and facing off in a close match tiebreaker. 

“It was nice to see Adri and Marie get the win against Roosevelt, as that was a team we lost to earlier in the season and hopefully gives them some confidence going in to ESD,” he said. 

Sept. 18 triangular

Brandon Valley’s final ESD Conference home match of the season against Yankton on Sept. 18 had Rothenberger a bit on edge. The BV coach knew the Gazelles presented challenges in their top two flights, and as it turns out, Rothenberger’s concerns were warranted.

“Starting with doubles it looked like Yankton would sweep us after our threes lost and our ones and twos were down most of their matches,” the coach said. “Both, however, were able to get the lead late in their match and stay aggressive enough to pull out their 11-9 wins.”  

BV’s 5-4 win came down to its top player, Tanna Lehfeldt, who was forced to go the distance in what Rothenberger describes as “the greatest comeback match of the season” victory.

“The dual was ultimately decided by the exciting match between our ones in singles. We won at flights three and four, they won at two, five and six making the dual score 4-4. It wasn’t looking good for us, as Tanna was down 2-7 in the match,” he recalled. “Tanna, at that point, however, dug down deep mentally and began hitting smarter shots and showed how tough of an opponent she can be. Through a lot of close points and games, Tanna fought all the way back to claim a 10-9 edge. She did lose the next game forcing a tiebreaker to decide the match. Tanna started down 2-6 in the seven-point tiebreaker to decide the match, but again kept fighting and pulled off the greatest comeback match of the season, winning 9-7 in the tiebreaker.” 

Metro Conference Championships

Lady Lynx results: Singles-Flight 1 – Meredith Benson (SFL) def. Tanna Lehfeldt (BV) 6-2, 6-3; Lehfeldt def. Sadie Goodhope (SFW) 6-0, 6-0; Flight 2 – Ava Leonard (SFL) def. Sydney Pelletier (BV) 6-3, 6-1; S. Pelletier def. Josie Smith (SFR) 6-4, 6-3; Flight 3 – Johana Brower (SFL) def. Kate Lundberg (BV) 6-0, 6-1; Lundberg def. Sydney Dixen (SFW) 6-4, 6-2; Flight 4 - Emily Whitney (SFL) def. Annabelle Schultz (BV) 6-2, 6-1; Schultz def. Megan Sundvold (SFR) 6-3, 3-6, 10-6; Flight 5 – Danica Hubers (SFR) def. Adriauna Alexander 6-1, 6-3; Kennie Brandt (SFW) def. Alexander 6-1, 6-0; Flight 6 – Brita Quello (SFL) def. Marie Pelletier 6-1, 6-2; Cameron Harms (SFR) def. M. Pelletier 3-6, 6-3, 10-6. Doubles-Flight 1 – D. Sebata/M. Nguyen (O’G) def. Lehfeldt/S. Pelletier 7-5, 6-2; Flight 2 – R. Jamous/S. Barnard (O’G) def. K. Lundberg/A. Schultz 3-6, 6-2, 10-3; A. Moe/J. Smith (SFR) def. Lundberg/Schultz 6-4, 6-2; Flight 3 -  Alexander/M. Pelletier def. C. Harms/D. Hubers (SFR) 6-1, 2-6, 10-5; K. Brandt/R. Nesheim (SFW) def. Alexander/M. Pelletier 7-6(4), 6-0.

Sept. 18 home triangular

BV 6, Madison 3

Singles: Tanna Lehfeldt (BV) def. Emily Van Liere 8-0; Caroline Graham (M) def. Sydney Pelletier 8-4; Kate Lundberg (BV) def. Emma Kruger 8-4; Annabelle Schultz (BV) def. Mya Maxwell 8-2; Lily Wolff (M) def. Adriauna Alexander 8-6; Marie Pelletier (BV) def. Evelyn Graham 8-3. Doubles: Lehfeldt/S. Pelletier (BV) def. E. Graham/C. Graham 8-2; Lundberg/Schultz (BV) def. Maxwell/Wolff 8-6; Kruger/Van Liere (M) def. Alexander/M. Pelletier 8-6.

BV 5, Yankton 4

Singles: T. Lehfeldt (BV) def. Anne Knoff 11-10(7); Josephine Krajewski (Y) def. S. Pelletier 10-3; K. Lundberg (BV) def. Olivia Tennant 10-7; A. Schultz (BV) def. Maddie Binder 10-4; Peyton Tramp (Y) def. A. Alexander 10-5; Maggie Schaefer (Y) def. M. Pelletier 10-2. Doubles: Lehfeldt/S. Pelletier (BV) def. Knoff/Krajewski 11-9; Lundberg/Schultz (BV) def. Tennant/Papstein 11-9; Binder/Becker (Y) def. Alexander/M. Pelletier 10-5.