Lucy Deml hits the ball down at the ground for a great play by the net for the Bluejays.
In its final full week of the regular season, the Waseca girls tennis team went 1-2 in dual meets, which included a win and a loss in Section 1A play.
The Bluejays enter this week with one more final regular season contest on Monday before starting the playoffs with the Section 1A team quarterfinals on Thursday, Oct. 8. Seedings and opening round assignments were not yet out as of Monday morning.
Hannah Sommers returns the ball as No. 1 doubles teammate Chloe Benson looks on.
Waseca started last week with a road dual on Monday, Sept. 28 against the Cannon Falls Bombers. The section dual went in the Bombers’ favor as they won 6-1.
Sophomore Ava Miller was Waseca’s lone victor of the dual. She won her match at No. 2 singles in two sets, with both having a score of 6-1.
Ava Miller won her match against Blue Earth Area in 2 sets on Saturday afternoon.
Five other matches went to two sets while No. 2 doubles went to three. Sophomore Sam Sutton and freshman Olivia Hagen won the first set 6-3 for Waseca before losing the second 6-1 and the third 7-5.
Against the Red Wing Wingers in another section showdown on Thursday, Oct. 1 in Waseca, the Bluejays bounced back with a 5-2 victory.
Waseca’s only loss at singles was at the No. 1 position. Junior Hannah Rugger faced her second Class A-ranked competition of the week in Red Wing’s Lorelei Hartman after facing Livia Tennessen of Cannon Falls. Tennessen is ranked No. 8 in the state and Hartman No. 9. Rugger lost to both in two sets.
Hannah Rugger won her match against Blue Earth Area after facing off against 2 state-ranked players earlier in the week.
Miller, Hagen, and freshman Kayla Landrum each won their singles sets against the Wingers in two sets, with Miller sweeping both sets with scores of 6-0.
Kayla Landrum hits the ball against the Buccaneers.
At doubles, the Bluejays lost at No. 1 in two contested sets (7-5, 7-6 (2)) but won at No. 2 and No. 3. Freshman Lucy Deml and sophomore Libby Miller won their first set 6-0 at No. doubles before winning a contested second set and sophomore Chloe Hagen and Sutton won at No. 3 in three sets. They lost the first set 6-4 before winning the second 6-2 and the third 6-4.
The Bluejays then had a make-up dual against Blue Earth Area on Saturday, Oct. 3 at home for their final home competition of the regular season. Waseca took an early 3-1 lead, but ended up falling to the Buccaneers 4-3. Rugger and Ava Miller won their singles matches at No. 1 and No. 2 in two sets each and Libby Miller and Deml won their match at No. 2 doubles in two sets.
Blue Earth then won at No. 1 doubles to have the dual be decided with the results of No. 4 singles and No. 3 doubles. Blue Earth won both of them in three sets to pull off the 4-3 victory.
The loss put Waseca at 5-9 overall on the season heading into their final regular season match-up on Monday. They will face United South Central in Wells ahead of the start of their playoffs on Thursday.