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Celina's Isabelle Thobe returns a shot against St. Marys' Lilly Hernandez.
ST. MARYS - The final results of the Celina-St. Marys girls tennis contest on Monday at the Minster Bank Courts didn't show how tough the Roughriders played the Bulldogs.
Celina's 4-1 win gave the Bulldogs their first Western Buckeye League win of the season at 1-2. The Roughriders drop to 1-2 in league play.
Bulldogs coach Jan Morrison was impressed with how St. Marys battled.
"They're a much-improved team from a year ago," said Morrison. "Their girls played hard."
"Jan told us we scare her for next year. I take that as a compliment," said St. Marys coach Mariah Krugh. "We have improved so much from last year already, and it's only August. To compete like that with players who have not played four years of tennis with a bunch of seniors on the Celina team, I'm really pleased how they all competed."
Three of Celina's wins came without giving up a game. Isabelle Thobe was a 6-0, 6-0 winner over Lilly Hernandez in first singles and Katie Guingrich did likewise in her second singles match to Maylee Fishbach. The Bulldogs' second doubles team of Kayana Wills and Ashton Lehman also posted a 6-0, 6-0 win over Sophia Zheng and Sophie Long.
The other two matches proved to be marathons.
Celina's Larissa Jackson returns a shot during her third singles match against Kenzie Behr. Jackson battled over two hours before getting the victory.
The longest lasted nearly 2 1/2 hours as Celina's Larissa Jackson faced St. Marys' Kenzie Behr in third singles. Jackson won the opening set 6-1 before Behr came back in the second set, winning a tiebreaker 7-5 to win 7-6 to level the match. Jackson bounced back to take the third set 6-1 to wrap up the day.
"Larissa played a little better and (Behr) made a few unforced errors in the final set," said Morrison.
"She has gained so much confidence on the court," said Krugh. "That's evident to see in a match where she's down a set and comes back and battle back and forth."
The St. Marys first doubles team of Logan Henschen and Delanni Wilker picked up a win on Monday.
St. Marys' lone win of the day came in first doubles. Logan Henschen and Delanni Wilker lost the opening set 2-6 to Jadice Dorsten and Lily Lunz, then came back to take the final two sets 6-0, 6-3 to prevent a clean sweep.
"We're lucky to get out of here with a win," said Morrison.
Both teams are at home today. Celina hosts Lehman at the Booster Club Tennis Complex while Bluffton heads to St. Marys.
