Port tennis improving with experience

Port Washington High School’s girls’ tennis team continues to get experience while picking up a few victories early in the season.

At the Washington County Invitational last Saturday in Slinger and Hartford, the Pirates’ No. 1 doubles team of Chloe and Tess Schueller went 2-1.

They lost to Ashley Pallan and Annie Mao of Germantown, 6-0, 6-3, before beating Alexandria Hernandez and Claire Young of West Bend East, 6-2, 6-1, and Rachel Degeorge and Kayla Lemens of West Bend West, 4-6, 6-3, 10-5.

“They used the net, movement and control of the tennis play to come back and win consolation against West Bend West,” coach Melonie Zielinski said.

No. 1 singles player Kaylee Doll went 1-2, beating Megan Krolski of Kewaskum, 6-4, 7-6 (3), before losing to Allie Gardner of Waukesha South, 6-1, 6-2, and Olivia Heling of West Bend East, 6-1, 6-1.

“Kaylee played well this weekend for being able to constantly move the ball around and use constant pace,” Zielinski said.

Freshman Grace Neitzke at No. 4 singles didn’t win either of her matches, but took her second to the limit before losing to Mckenna Gish of West Bend West, 6-0, 2-6, 13-11.

“She gained a lot of experience and growth from this tournament. She was able to move the ball around and stay within the match to bring it to a third set. We are excited to see how she plays the rest of the season,” Zielinski said.

The No. 3 doubles team of Morgan Stone and Ashley Zygowski went 1-2, beating Audra Hurt and Madysen Schlosser of Kewaskum, 6-4, 6-3. They lost in straight sets to Anna Peterson and Abby Kalina of Slinger and a close match to Brooke Jeffers and Lindsay Juno of Waukesha South, 6-7 (9), 6-3, 10-4.

Zaara Rehman at No. 2 singles lost her three matches in straight sets. Moorea Thompson at No. 3 singles lost both of her matches, but made it entertaining against Brenna Schultz of West Bend West by scores of 2-6, 6-3 and 10-5.

The No. 2 doubles team of Jessica Boccio and Madelyn Hughes went 0-2 but nearly pulled off its match against Elizabeth Beine and Abby Kopfhammer of Kewaskum, losing 1-6, 6-4, 10-6.

At a triangular meet at Sheboygan South on Aug. 21, Port nearly pulled off two victories, losing 4-3 each to Martin Luther and the hosts.

“We had a different lineup this time around. Our three doubles teams were able to take control of their matches through maintaining the pace and controlling the net, while in singles we struggled to end long rallies to win the point,” Zielinski said.

Against Martin Luther, Port won all the doubles matches and lost all the singles in straight sets.

The Schuellers at No. 1 doubles beat Emma Ziebell and Denisse Ortiz, 6-2, 6-1.

Stone and Zygowski at No. 2 beat Bree Novotny and Abbie Morave, 6-2, 6-2.

Hughes and Paige Vang at No. 3 beat Vicky Gonzales and Atiera Hoemke, 7-5, 6-3.

The doubles teams went 2-1 against South.

The Schuellers beat Elizabeth Binversie and Maya Walther, 6-0, 6-0.

Stone and Zygowski came back to beat Rakshya Bhatta and Isabel Gosse, 2-6, 6-4, 15-13.

Hughes and Vang lost to Samikshya Bhatta and Alexandra Vang, 6-3, 7-5.

Doll at No. 1 singles beat Vanessa Ziegler, 6-2, 6-1.

The Pirates had Monday’s West Bend West match moved to Sept. 16 due to rain. They were scheduled to play in a quadrangular meet at Mukwonago on Wednesday and host North Shore Conference opponent Hartford at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 5.