Girls tennis: Doubles teams advance Dragons – West Central Tribune

MINNEAPOLIS Behind a sweep of wins from their doubles pairings, the Litchfield Dragons girls tennis team opened up their Class A state tournament run with a 5-2 Victory over the Staples-Motley Cardinals on Tuesday at the Reed-Sweatt Family Tennis Center.

Anytime you get to this point, nothing is ever easy, Litchfield head Coach Matt Draeger said. Staples-Motley played pretty good tennis today. We were happy about moving on.

Leading the doubles for the Dragons was the No. 2 pairing of Seniors Sophie Stilwell and Kaitlyn Palmer. The duo defeated Staples-Motleys Corrine Olson and Heidi Zimmerman in two sets, 6-1, 6-2.

Stilwell and Palmer became a doubles pairing for the first time this season about two weeks before the state tournament. While they were a pair for almost all of last season, Palmer spent this year competing as the No. 4 singles and Stilwell remained at No. 2 in doubles.

Sometimes in tennis, it just clicks. With Kaitlyn Id say its always been good to play with her, Stilwell said. Its been pretty easy to adjust playing with her again because we just understand each other.

Michael Lyne / West Central Tribune

Draeger mentioned that Palmer is the teams flex player with an infectious personality. She can move fluidly between singles or doubles and her personality is what makes her role work so well.

Kaitlyns got that Personality that everyone gets along with and you need someone on your team like that, no matter what sport it is, Draeger said. Kaitlyn is one of those team players that just wants to win.

Litchfields No. 1 doubles pairing of senior Lauren Erickson and junior Olivia Olson won their match, 6-1, 6-3 and the No. 3 doubles pairing of Seniors Amelia Benson and Trinity Hawes completed the doubles sweep with a 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 victory.

We knew going into the match thats where our advantage was, Draeger said of his doubles teams. We also knew they had four good singles players. I was happy with the way our singles players battled.

Michael Lyne / West Central Tribune

Staples-Motley split the four singles matches with Litchfield.

Well. 1 Lauren Rutten and No. 4 Elizabeth Digovanni earned wins for the Cardinals. Well. 2 sophomore Karlee Prahl and No. 3 eighth-grader Isla Dille took home victories for the Dragons. Prahl won her match in three sets with a 10-5 tiebreaking victory and Dille cruised to a win in two sets with set wins of 6-3 and 6-2.

Im just always focused on the next point, Prahl said. (The win) feels good and Im excited to play tomorrow.

The Dragons face the Breck School at 10 am Wednesday for a rematch from the 2021 Class A state Championship with a trip to the 2022 Class A state title on the line. Breck beat St. James 4-3 in its quarterfinal match. In the other semifinal, its Rochester Lourdes vs. Providence Academy. Lourdes beat Pine City 4-3 and Providence defeated Luverne 7-0. The Championship match takes place at 4 pm The third-place match is 2 pm

Obviously, they were expecting a good match, Stilwell said. We just have to play hard, stay focused and have a positive attitude.

Michael Lyne / West Central Tribune

Singles
(1) Lauren Rutten, SM, def. Ryanna Steinhaus 2-6 6-2 13-11 (2) Karlee Prahl, L, def. Ronnie Noska 6-4 4-6 10-5 (3) Isla Dille, L, def. Georgia Kruchten 6-3 6-2 (4) Elizabeth Digovanni, SM, def. Anna Stilwell 6-3 6-3

Doubles
(1) Lauren Erickson/Olivia Olson, L, def. Amy Rollins/Kenzie Erickson 6-1 6-3 (2) Kaitlyn Palmer/Sophie Stilwell, L, def. Corinne Olson/Heidi Zimmerman 6-1 6-2 (3) Amelia Benson/Trinity Hawes, L, def. Maddison Perius/Jaida Holst 6-1 4-6 6-3