Girls tennis was the first high school sporting event to happen since the COVID-19 pandemic shut down virtually all school events in March.
And it was obviously a relief for Litchfield players to finally face some real competition.
“It feels so good to be out here,” Ryanna Steinhaus said as the Dragons met Holy Family last week.
The team put in great practices leading up to the match against Holy Family after a long delay. Getting back to a sense of normalcy, letting the the team have fun was important, according to coach Matt Draeger.
“Getting back to these kids having fun, put a smile on their face, doing something they love, it’s real rewarding,” Draeger said. “We’re happy with how it went, we think we did everything the right way. The kids played really well, I can’t be more happy with how it went.”
The Dragons dominated Holy Family in six of the seven matches. No Holy Family singles or doubles team won more than two sets in the matches, giving Litchfield a great start to work off of.
The only player who didn’t blow out the opponent was tops singles player Avery Stilwell, who met Holy Family No. 1 Ally Agerland and had to go work over time for a 7-6, 7-5 win.
Steinhaus topped Claire Haley 6-0, 6-0, while Dragons’ No. 3 singles player Karlee Prahl and No. 4 Janessa Olson took down their opponents swiftly, as well, with Prahl winning 6-1, 6-2, and Olson 6-2, 6-0.
“It’s nice to see everyone come out with a win and play well together,” Steinhaus said.
The doubles teams were equally as impressive, thoroughly handling the competition. It was close early on in the No. 1 doubles match that saw Litchfield’s Britney Prahl and Kylie Michels face Holy Family’s Lauren Taylor and Julia Baskfield. But Prahl and Michels showed some resilience by powering through late to take over the match.
The No. 2 and 3 teams of Kelsey Ballard and Emma DeWolf, and Kaityln Palmer and Lauren Erickson both won their matches 6-0 and 6-1. A great showing for a team that has high aspirations.
“Everyone played well and battled hard,” Michels said. “Me and Britney played together last year, so we work well together. We all put what we worked on these past couple weeks and did well.”
Draeger had to do a lot of moving around for this year, so the first match was a bit of wildcard. It couldn’t have turned out better for Draeger.
“We have a good group of kids and we have kids that want to compete,” Draeger said. “I don’t know how to sum it up, but it’s just so much fun to watch them play and do something they love that they’ve worked so hard for. It would have been a travesty to take this away from these kids as hard as they worked all summer for this moment.”
Everyone is excited for the season now that is has officially begun. Even though it was a great opening week there is still no room to get complacent.
“Mr. Draeger will push us more and make sure that we don’t just think, ‘Oh we’re good,’” Michels said. “We’ve got to keep going and keep playing.”
Litchfield 7, Holy Family 0 (Aug. 25)
Singles — 1. Avery Stilwell (L) over Ally Agerland 7-6, 7-5; 2. Ryanna Steinhaus (L) over Claire Haley 6-0, 6-0; 3. Karlee Prahl (L) over Aria McNeely 6-1, 6-2; 4. Janessa Olson (L) Averi Ahmann 6-2, 6-0
Doubles — 1. Britney Prahl/Kylie Michels (L) over Lauren Taylor/Julia Baskfield 6-1, 6-2; 2. Kelsey Ballard/Emma DeWolf (L) over Emma Murphy/Briar Charchenko 6-0, 6-1; 3. Kaitlyn Palmer/Lauren Erickson (L) over Justina Valentine/Ella Knutson 6-0, 6-1
Litchfield 6, Jordan 1 (Aug. 27)
Singles — 1. Avery Stilwell (L) over Emily Randolph 6-0, 6-3; 2. Ryanna Steinhaus (L) over Mikayla Hanson 6-4, 6-2; 3. Karlee Prahl (L) over Makayla Haugen 6-1, 6-2; 4. Janessa Olson (L) over Riley Steinhaus 6-0, 6-2
Doubles: 1. Britney Prahl/Kylie Michels (L) over Kylie Bolster/Ella Bounds 6-0, 6-0; 2. Kelsey Ballard/Emma DeWolf (L) over Lydia Cook/Michelle Perkarna 6-2, 6-1; 3. Nicole Draheim/Cailin Friary over Sophie Stilwell/Lauren Erickson (L) 2-0, 2-0
