Girls Tennis: Raiders beat Falls, lose to Chargers

"It was an up and down week," Wauwatosa East girls tennis coach Glen Slonac said.

The Raiders opened the week with a 5-2 win over Menomonee Falls on Sept. 21 at Hart Park, but dropped a 4-3 decision on Sept. 23 to Sussex Hamilton at Hart Park.

Winners at Falls were No. 2 singles Maja Tessmer (6-4, 6-2) and No. 3 singles Mariel Leering (6-2, 7-5) and the No. 1 doubles team of Laura Brown/Daisy Wedel (6-2, 6-2), No. 2 doubles Julianna Gottwein/Heather OKeeffe (6-1, 6-2) and No. 3 doubles Jamie Knauss/Abby Vogt (7-5, 6-2).

"We had a very good match against Falls," Slonac said. "We continue to get strong play from three positions: No. 1 and No. 2 doubles, and No. 3 singles.

"Our No. 1 and No. 2 doubles continues to improve their net game and their aggressiveness at the net.

"Mariel at No. 3 singles is getting smarter with her play and seems to be doing a nice job or adjusting her game."

The Raiders lost a tough decision to the Chargers, as Brown/Wedel (6-3, 6-2), Gottwein/OKeeffe (6-1, 6-2) and Leering (6-0, 6-0) were the Raiders' winners.

"It was a disappointing match because I thought our team was starting to go in the right direction, and we had some individuals who were not mentally prepared to play their matches," Slonac said. "We had various opportunities to win the meet and came up short.

"I give a lot of credit to Sussex for pulling out the two close matches."

Then Slonac talked about some of the other matches.

"At first singles, Alayah (Walls) lost 7-5, 6-7, 7-5. Both sets she lost, she was up 5-4 and couldn't close her match out," he said.

"The No. 3 doubles match was disappointing because it seemed like we lacked motivation and played non-inspired tennis (in their loss 3-6, 6-3, 7-6)."

Slonac then pointed out that the loss to Hamilton will hurt the Raiders in the postseason.

"The hard thing with the loss to Sussex is now our players are going to play tough first-round matches in the conference tournament," he said. "I think some of our players need to step up their game and challenge (themselves) to be the best player they can be."