Cards win two of three in Alexandria Invitational

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The Cardinal girls’ tennis team won two of three matches this past weekend at their home invite despite having to make a number of adjustments to their lineup.

Alexandria’s No. 1 singles player Rachel Ziegler was gone due to another commitment. That forced head coach Dave Ronning to move the rest of his singles players up a spot and move Rachel Astrup from the doubles lineup into the No. 4 singles slot.

“Rachel [Astrup] has played a lot of doubles for us already this season so we were very confident in her abilities,” Ronning said. “But it did put more pressure on our other singles players as they had to move up a position.”

Alexandria handled that pressure pretty well for most of the day as they earned 6-1 wins over both Moorhead and Sauk Centre before falling to Woodbury 7-0 in the final match.

Holea Bruggman and Jenna Galstad both saw impressive winning streaks come to an end on Saturday. Bruggman failed to win a match for the first time this season after winning 11 straight. That loss came at No. 2 doubles where she and Laura Johnson fell 6-1, 7-5 against Woodbury.

Galstad saw a nine-match winning streak come to an end against Woodbury’s Kelsey Beebe at No. 3 singles.

Both Galstad and Bruggman did pick up two wins on the day, though. All but two players in the Cardinal lineup had two wins in the tournament.

“This day has made us a better team in many ways,” Ronning said. “With the girls having to play in tougher positions and the way they performed, this can only help us down the road and make us better players.”

Alexandria now sits at 10-2 on the season with a 2-1 record in the Central Lakes Conference.

MATCH STATISTICS

Woodbury 7, Alexandria 0

SINGLES – No. 1 – Ana Hanacks (W) def. Annie Trebelhorn, 6-0, 6-2; No. 2 – Amy Wilson (W) def. Ashley White, 6-1, 6-0; No. 3 – Kelsey Beebe (W) def. Jenna Galstad, 6-1, 6-0; No. 4 – Katrina Frye (W) def. Rachel Astrup, 6-4, 7-5

DOUBLES – No. 1 – Crosby Ricera/Mary Beck (W) def. Emily Wilkins/Eve Hartsell, 6-4, 6-2; No. 2 – Katlyn McNamera/Katlyn Bosture (W) def. Holea Bruggman/Laura Johnson, 6-1, 7-5; No. 3 – Michelle Lee/Thushare Alahappenma (W) def. Kristen Schmidt/Brianna Ebert, 6-4, 6-1

Alexandria 6, Moorhead 1

SINGLES – No. 1 – Trebelhorn (A) def. Stephany Weaver, 6-2, 1-6, 7-3; No. 2 – White (A) def. Emma Connell, 6-1, 6-2; No. 3 – Galstad (A) def. Cecilia Bonnitto, 6-0, 6-1; No. 4 – Lizzy Ross (M) def. Astrup, 7-5, 6-2

DOUBLES – No. 1 – Wilkins/Hartsell (A) def. Molly Hagen/Layne Meyer, 6-1, 6-0; No. 2 – Bruggman/Johnson (A) def. Samantha Nelson/Kirsten Hoaby, 6-3, 6-3; No. 3 – Schmidt/Ebert (A) def. Tiffany Motis/Katie Schneider, 5-7, 6-1, (7-3)

Alexandria 6, Sauk Centre 1

SINGLES – No. 1 – Laura Hintzen (SC) def. Trebelhorn, 6-2, 6-2; No. 2 – White (A) def. Christine Zimmermann, 7-6 (5), 6-1; No. 3 – Galstad (A) def. Krystal Heinen, 6-0, 6-4; No. 4 – Astrup (A) def. Kady Buschette, 6-4, 6-1

DOUBLES – No. 1 – Wilkins/Hartsell (A) def. Stephanie Anderson/Chelsea Donnay, 6-3, 7-6 (2); No. 2 – Bruggman/Johnson (A) def. Samantha Ritter/Amy Zimmermann, 6-4, 6-3; No. 3 – Schmidt/Ebert (A) def. Meghan Duchene/Leah Middendorf, 4-6, 6-2, (7-4)

Tags: sports, alexandria, cardinals, tennis, invitational