TROY – The Greenville girls tennis team finished third out of nine teams in the Silver Flight of the Greater Western Ohio Conference tournament on Friday at Troy.
The Wave got a total of 40 points, barely losing out to second place finisher Lebanon, who garnered 41 points. Fairmont slammed everyone by winning all the singles and doubles and tallying 55 points.
Greenville first singles player Anja Mertel was seeded fourth and came away with a third place finish. Mertel mesmerized her first opponent from Wayne, Sidney Bailey, 8-1. All matches were played to a pro set in which players must have a two-game advantage, and a tiebreaker was played at eight games all.
Mertel then lost a heartbreaker to eventual champion Hannah Jones, the No. 1 seed from Fairmont, 9-8. In the tiebreaker, Mertel went down 10-5. Mertel then bested Stephanie Torres from Lebanon 8-2 to get the Wave on the board with eight points.
Second singles player Anna Manges also managed to get third place after being seeded in exactly the same spot. Manges managed to take her foe down, hook, line and sinker as Kristen Hooker from Wayne was shut out 8-0. Manges then fell to Sam Turner, the No. 2 seed who turned the tables on her 8-3. Manges then made Fairborn’s Acadia Wulf cry wolf and defeated her 8-5 to slice in another eight points for the Wave total.
Greenville’s third singles gunslinger, Molly Hunt, put No. 6 seed Kaya Stargel from Wayne into cold storage, 8-3. No. 2 seed Katie West of Fairmont played Hunt in all directions and won out 8-0. Hunt then hunted down Madison Frank of Sidney 8-2 for a solid third place finish.
The first doubles squad of Mallory Rich and Neeps Kaur needed no help in dispatching Aaliyah Gooley and Breanna Shafee of Trotwood 8-0. Next up for the dynamic duo was fifth seeded West Carrolton pair of Cara Cummins and Lucy Shriver, who were sent out to walk the plank, 8-4. This put Rich and Kaur into the finals where they were went down heartbreak doubles alley to Fairmont’s Matti Cridge and Gigi Lombardo, 9-7, in one of the best matches of the tournament.
Next up was the second doubles tandem of No. 1 seeded Larisa Schmitmeyer and Casey Malott, who got a bye due to no team from Trotwood. This put them into the semis, and they were upset by Auanna Edens and Naomi Riegel from Sidney 8-6. Greenville’s squad then was beat 8-5 by the No. 2 seed, Lebanon’s Kasha Bucher and Jackie Brake, who barely survived a match earlier over Abbey Friend and Grace McClelland from upstart Xenia.
“We missed out on some opportunities at doubles, which would have catapulted us into second place over Lebanon,” Greenville girls tennis coach Jim Koontz said. “Singles were very solid and Mertel outdid her seed by one and enhanced and solidified our third place finish. Last year we were dead last in the Gold Division with only eight points so we have shown lots of improvement. Fairmont surprised us as we beat them in the regular season 3-2, but in tournament playing a beast of a schedule pays off. We look forward to playing in Division II over at Troy early next week.”
