The Bulldog girls tennis team won a riveting match last Thursday night in Sartell. After winning confidently against Collision Tennis (Apollo, Cathedral, Sauk Rapids) 6-1, the Bulldogs would later find out that there would be a rematch against the Willmar Cardinals who had beaten the Bulldogs earlier in the year 4-3.
The first four positions on the court were all starting out in favor of the Cardinals, with Blair Pappenfus at 4 singles, Courtney Nuest at 3 singles, and Alayna Lindquist & Payton Bernstrom at 2 doubles all dropping the first set.
Julia Bengtson and Ally Kangas were hanging tight in the first set and pulled it out, winning in a tie-breaker. Hope was starting to fade, but in what most people would think was Pappenfus' last change-over of the match, falling to 2-5 in the second set, something flipped.
Pappenfus would not go away, her shots more confident and more consistent. Pappenfus started coming back.
Meanwhile Nuest started clawing for points in the second set, frustrating her opponent. Nuest ended up falling in two sets, but had many great rallies against a tough opponent. About that time, Pappenfus decided to win seven straight games.
She made it to the third set and didn't slow down, winning the third set 6-3. While this was going on, 2 doubles found their rhythm and never looked back, executing all the shots they have been making throughout the season and won in a third set.
At 3 doubles, the Willmar team picked up their game and made fewer mistakes, while Kangas and Bengtson couldn't quite find their groove and dropped the second set. The 3rd set was was just as close as the first, trading games throughout the set and came down to a tiebreaker once again. The tiebreaker remained close, but the Bulldog doubles team prevailed, winning 7-5 in the tiebreaker.
While Nuest was fighting for each point, the second set dragged out, but in the end the Willmar opponent held on to beat Nuest 2-6, 3-6. During the end of Nuest's match, the 2 doubles team of Bernstrom and Lindquist started executing their shots and went on to win the second and third sets with a final score of 2-6, 6-2, 6-3.
The last three matches went on the court, with Anna Ritchie playing 1 singles, Taylor Pawlicki at two singles and Megan Nelson & Hannah Bengtson at 1 doubles.
Ritchie had a tough match up playing Cayle Hovland, who hits the ball hard and with lots of slice. She fought but ended up falling 0-6, 0-6.
Meanwhile Pawlicki was fighting for each point against the number two from Willmar. Her first set dragged on with long games going to deuce multiple times and having long points with rallies of groundstrokes.
Despite those long points, she came out losing the first set 4-6. The doubles pair of Nelson & Bengtson came out energized and ready to compete. The Willmar opponents tried to keep pace with the Becker duo forcing many long points at the net. At many times fans from both sides thought the point would be over only to be surprised by an astonishing dig to keep the point alive.
Nelson and Bengtson proved strong in the first set, winning 6-3. As Pawlicki tried to find a rhythm that would help her overcome her opponent, the Willmar opponent proved too consistent and came away with the win in the second set of 6-2.
The score was now tied—Willmar with 3 wins, Becker with 3 wins. It all came down to 1 doubles to be the deciding match. All eyes and cheers were on that court as the only court left in play. With every point, cheers came either from fans clad in blue or red.
The Becker doubles team seemed to be cruising, coming out to a 3-0 lead, but Willmar would not just quietly go away. They clawed back and found the match going back and forth through the second set.
Bengtson & Nelson started playing safe and fell to 4-5, but after a reset found themselves up 6-5. At this point, the air was thick with tension—would it go to a riveting tiebreaker or would the Becker team come away with the win?
Each person in the complex knew what was riding on this game, including the players on the court. The Becker team jumped out to a lead in the next game of 40-love, but again Willmar would not be done, winning the next two points. Becker was too strong and came away with the last point to give the Bulldogs the team win, along with the 1 doubles match at 7-5.
"This was such a great match, the emotion felt like playing Foley for the conference a week ago. I think that actually helped us because we had been in that tight situation before," said Coach Bucher.
"This team plays as a team, all of our victories have come from different people stepping up to get things done for us, we've accomplished all of our goals, conference champs, and a rematch with Willmar that ended in our favor," states Coach Bucher.
The Bulldogs face Brainerd on Friday. If victorious they will play in the section Final that evening against the winner of Bemidji and St. Cloud Tech.
Full report of results in next week’s Citizen-Tribune.
