The Becker Bulldogs girls tennis team wrapped up the Granite Ridge conference by beating a tough Foley team 4-3 for their first title win. 

 

The Bulldogs started out by dropping 1 singles and 1 doubles in very tough competitions. 

 

"Both teams knew this was for the conference. So the tension was palpable,"states Coach Nathan Bucher.

 

The Bulldogs bounced back with a win from 3 doubles, that went into the third set but the team rebounded after struggling in the second set. 

 

Then 2 doubles added another win to tie the team score at 2-2. 

 

Coach Bucher states "Alayna and Payton just keep executing. They struggled to find their groove in the second set, but pulled out a big win in the tie-breaker."

 

Taylor Pawlicki, playing 2 singles, battled but ended up dropping in a long 2 set match. The score now 2-3 with Foley in the lead. Courtney Nuest, playing 3 singles, dropped her first set but was battling in the second and was able to capture that set and push into the 3rd.

 

"Courtney was so calm and collected compared to her first set and kept perspective if she made a mistake," states Coach Bucher. 

 

Nuest jumped out to a 5-2 lead in the 3rd set and went on to clinch that match. The score now tied 3-3 and all coming down to number 4 singles which had found its way into the 3rd set as well. 

 

Blair Pappenfus dropped the first set while getting the jitters out and then clawed her way into winning the second set. While Nuest had just finished, Pappenfus was able to come out to a commanding lead of 4-1. 

 

All eyes watched each point, but Pappenfus came through for the victory making Becker the Granite Ridge Conference Champions.

 

"It was a great team win, we had people stepping up in places we needed them to step up. Winning the GRC was our main goal for the year and we knew right away that looking at our schedule Foley would be the tough competitor they proved to be. Everyone had to play strong throughout the entire conference schedule though, and the girls did that. We had different positions filling their role through the entire season," states Coach Bucher.