TROY – In a gold medal type performance by all, the Greenville Lady Wave tennis team washed out the competition and won the rain-shortened Greater Western Ohio Conference’s Silver Flight on Thursday at Troy.
The final tally showed the Wave tennis squad led by Coach Jim Koontz with 58 points followed by Springfield in a distant second place with 48 points. Rounding out the top five was Warren County’s Lebanon with 47 points, Montgomery County’s hard-hitting Northmont squad with 43 points and Greene County’s senior-dominated Xenia team with 40 points.
Leading off the festivities on a cloudy, overcast rainy day was Greenville’s No. 1 single player, Natalie Milligan, the third seed who rained down on sixth seed Kristen Hooker from Wayne, 8-1. Next up was No. 2 seed Jenna Demeter, who got by all-court specialist Aly Landis, 8-3. Freshman Milligan looking fresh on her feet dismantled Demeter 8-4 to catapult into the finals. The final would have put her against the No. 1 seed Marissa Anderson from Northmont. However, the rainy weather was the biggest seed and the administrators called off the match and awarded each player first place and 12 points.
Greenville’s second singles player, Anna Manges, was seeded No. 4 and managed a first round victory over No. 5 seed Elaina Ukhiyayeva from Stebbins, 8-1. The win propelled her into her next match against No. 1 seed Lauren Kelsey from Northmont and Manges stunned her 8-3. This victory sent her into the finals against No. 2 seed Amanda Dillon of Springfield. This final again was washed out and a dozen points were given to each player as the Wave total began to roll.
Third singles started off with third seeded Abby Swensen going against No. 6 seed Kyla Secrest of Fairborn. Swensen used her all-court skills during the match and sent Secrest crest fallen, 8-3. Swensen swam into the finals by defeating the No. 7 seed Molly Langdon from Lebanon, 8-2. Swensen then was to meet hard-hitting all-court specialist Peyton McLain from Xenia in a much anticipated final. Swensen and McLain both had to feel the pain of not playing each other and shared first place with 12 more points going in the Wave column.
“Our singles players were simply scintillating as they started off well in the pro set scoring format,” Greenville girls tennis coach Jim Koontz said. “You can’t get off to a slow start and fall behind because if you do the match will be over as eight games decides the whole thing. There is no second to third set to get going again.”
The first doubles duo of Molly Hunt and Larissa Schmitmeyer had their fourth seed tested briefly in the opening round by Shayne Osborne and Premelee Chapman of Fairborn, the fifth seed, 8-4 The Wave duo quickly regrouped and stunned the No. 1 seeded squad of Lena Syed and Maleehah Umerani of Springfield, 8-3. The doubles final pitted them against the No. 2 seed of Mia Kordowski and Jackie Brake of Lebanon. However, rain again put a full throttle break to the championship being played. Another 12 points were amassed for the Wave growing lead.
The second doubles squadron of Marabelle Lance and Addie Haupt added to the Wave point total as the No. 4 seed by stinging the fifth seeded duo of Kathryn Saunders and Jenee Drees of Sidney, 8-0. Next up in the semis was the No. 1 seeded Emily Heecked and Anjell Mistry from Springfield. This duo remained a mystery for the gallant Wave as they finally lost, 9-7.Greenville’s third place match was to be against Han Lee and Sophie Dang of Stebbins, but it was also washed out like a Green Wave splashing onto the courts at Troy High School.
“Our doubles teams lived up to their seeding and then some by communicating on the court and switching when they were on the same side of the court,” Koontz said. “We are pleased as punch to get the Silver Division Crown as 12 teams are the most any team has to go through to get the championship, with the expansion of the GWOC this past year. Most of the coaches worried about what seed their player was, but I knew that the matches were decided on the court, not what seed the player possessed.”
The Lady Wave girls tennis squad ended up the regular season with an impressive 7-3 record in the American North Division, good for fourth place cumulative they amassed a wave of victories totaling 13 and only going down four times. So they only lost one match outside the division and had an eight-match winning streak to start the season.
Greenville will play in the Ohio High School Athletic Association Division II sectional on Tuesday at Troy.
