Tiger Tennis faced the always-brutal Jeff City Jays tonight, falling 0-9 overall as a team.  I’ve mentioned before just how difficult this team is to compete against.  One of my long term goals is to beat the Jays.  Walking into this game, however, we knew realistically that’d be a tough feat to accomplish this year.  Our goal…learn something from the experience.  We talked a lot before the match about how important it is to play strong teams.  Its playing teams like Jeff City that makes us better.  They push us.  These girls were faster, stronger, and had much more powerful shots than what we’ve played against so far this season.  I love putting the girls in a challenging position.  That’s when they have to dig deep, focus harder, and become mentally stronger.  It’s matches like these that increase reaction time, racquet speed, quickness of feet, and overall endurance better than any practice ever could.  Before the match, I told the girls that their goal was to give their best, leave everything they have on the court, and find a takeaway from today’s match.  I can honestly say, that in four years of coaching at Waynesville, this is the best we have ever played Jeff City.  My hope is that by playing this tough match today, we’ll be that much more prepared for Osage tomorrow and Camdenton on Thursday.  Watching the girls play doubles gave me such a sense of peace.  Although the score says otherwise, the girls played really well in tonight’s match.  On all three courts, the girls hit Deuce multiple times on almost every game.  That doesn’t happen in one-team-dominate matches.  That to me proves our strength and what we’re really capable of as a team.  Where we struggle is pulling out those close matches.  When we hit Deuce almost every game, but only pull out 1 or 2 wins, that’s a mind thing.  That’s when we let our opponent out think us, or quite possibly, we over think ourselves.  Yes of course we have many mechanical issues to work out, and I’m excited to finally get back to practice to start hammering away on those issues, but the mind is half the battle. 

One of the greatest matches of the night was played on court 1.  Falling quickly 0-8 in the first set, Lindzie King started off the second set on the right track, taking the lead from the start.  I really thought we’d have to finish out the third set tiebreaker on this match.  Up 4-3, Lindzie dropped three matches in a row, ending her lead and eventually that second set in a very close 4-6 defeat. 

Ryhia Stevenson took away 2 games tonight against her opponent.  I’ve really enjoyed getting to coach Ryhia.  One thing that sticks out about her is an openness to try new things.  Tonight, Ryhia was having trouble finding a tactic to use against her baseline-running opponent.  After talking to Ryhia at the fence, we came up with a plan.  No matter how confident Ryhia may feel in the tasks I give to her, she never blows them off.  She’s willing to try anything and give it her all.  That’s exactly what she did, and she walked away with the second highest number of games wins tonight. 

Mollie Henry brought her amazing placement back to the courts again tonight.  I witnessed many winners put away against the #1 Jeff City doubles girls tonight.  She and Lindzie both have very strong Return of Serves.  Mollie fired many of those shots down the line tonight, throwing her opponents out of place.  Tonight was one of the first times I’ve seen the Jays struggle to put a racquet on our shots.  Mollie worked very hard on her placement as she sat out for part of last season for a knee injury.  That hard work paid off, as that is easily the best part of her game. 

The Tigers take the road again tomorrow night against Osage before playing the Camdenton Lakers at WMDS on Thursday night. 

Singles

Lindzie King vs. Erica Dunn, 0-6, 4-6

Mollie Henry vs. Susan Meyer, 1-6, 0-6

Mykaela Baze vs. Bailey Patrick, 0-6, 1-6

Ryhia Stevenson vs. Kirsten Schwandtner, 1-6, 1-6

Helene Houston vs. Bailey Higgins, 0-6, 0-6

Chloe Trusty vs. Olivia Hart, 0-6, 0-6

Doubles

King/Henry vs. Dunn/Meyer, 1-8

Baze/Stevenson vs. Patrick/Schwandtner, 0-8

Houston/Trusty vs. Higgins/Hart, 0-8