Waynesville Tennis took their second win of the season tonight against Smith-Cotton, 8-1. Having never played this team during regular season before, we were a little unsure of how tonight’s match would pan out.  We met this team in District play in 2015, which ended in a close Waynesville loss.  Last year, they were seeded just above us in Districts based on common opponents. Unfortunately, that little bit of information was all we had to go by.  The Tigers came out swinging though, taking all three doubles matches from the start.  

Heather Emerson and Lauren DeMalade took their match quick with an 8-2 victory.  With #4 Blaire Smith out of the match, everyone else bumped up a spot.  At #3, Alexuz Pesantemercado and Naudia Evans took another fast match at 8-5.  Alexuz and Naudia played very well together tonight. These two have never dualed together before, but their communication was great, and they really complimented each other’s strengths and weaknesses as a team.  This is Naudia’s first year playing tennis, but her athletic ability has really helped her advance on the court. She’s working to fine-tune her strokes and has made great improvements already this season. She’s extremely aggressive, and is one of few players who actively work to rush the net. Only a sophomore, Naudia is looking to have a great future in tennis.  At #2 doubles, Kristen Sneed and Vashti Hernandez played a close match, which ended with a tiebreak finish.  These girls fought hard tonight and played with great determination. Falling behind in both their doubles and singles matches, both girls came back to take a tiebreak win for both of their duals.  In fact, at the #4 singles spot, Vashti fell behind 3-7 but made a huge comeback to win 9-8 (7-0) overall.    

The Tigers will finish their busy week of matches as they take on both the Camdenton Lakers and West Plains Zizzers at home tomorrow night.    

Singles

Heather Emerson vs. Caroline Matz, 6-8

Lauren DeMalade vs. Jessica Kotok, 8-3

Kristen Sneed vs. Maria Aonzo, 9-8 (7-4)

Vashti Hernandez vs. Elissa Petrashishina, 9-8 (7-0)

Alexuz Pesantemercado vs. Emma Flower, 8-2

Naudia Evans vs. Ellie Kotok, 8-3

Doubles

Emerson/DeMalade vs. Matz/Aonzo, 8-2

Sneed/Hernandez vs. J. Kotok/Petrashishina, 9-8 (7-2)

Pescantemercado/Evans vs. Flowers/E. Kotok, 8-5