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Singles sweep leads to Lady Chucks' 7-2 victory over Lady Bisons |
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Written by Dan Walk
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Tuesday, 26 August 2008 |
Punxsy's Amber Baker returns the ball against Madison Sopic of Clearfield during the No. 4 singles match Monday afternoon at the Middle School tennis courts in Punxsutawney. (Photo by Dan Walk/The Punxsutawney Spirit)
PUNXSUTAWNEY -- Singles dominance helped the Punxsy girls' tennis team cruise to a 7-2 triumph over Clearfield to provide rookie head coach Rose Graffius with her first victory in direction of the Lady Chucks Monday afternoon in Punxsutawney.
"Overall, coach Rick Graffius and I were pleased with the way the girls played," Graffius said. "They moved around the court quickly and used the skills they've been practicing the last two weeks. It's a great way to start the season."
Led by co-captains Emily Graffius and Jetts Neal, Punxsy's singles players made short work of the Lady Bisons by collecting a five-match sweep.
Emily Graffius knocked off Jenny Miller by the scores of 6-1, 6-1 in the No. 1 singles match, and Neal finished with the most impressive scores of the afternoon -- 6-0, 6-1 over Julie Colesar at singles No. 3 competition.
During the No. 2 singles match, Keshia Farnsworth needed just two sets to dispatch of Emily von Gunden, 6-1, 6-3.
Amber Baker continued the two-set control of Clearfield by beating Madison Sopic, 6-2, 6-0.
In the fifth and final singles match, Lindsey Paulina needed a tiebreaker to defeat Kayla White by the scores of 4-6, 6-2 and 10-3. One of this year's rule changes was that if a third set was necessary in singles play, then it would be a best-of-10 tiebreaker -- rather than a full third set -- to speed up the match.
"Our five singles players gave a strong performance, which set the tone for the rest of the match," head coach Graffius said. "This allowed some of our less-seasoned players a chance to gain experience in the doubles matches."
The two teams split doubles action, and Punxsy was able to avoid using its top two players twice. Punxsy earned two triumphs with its Nos. 2 and 4 squads.
Neal and Baker combined to beat Sopic and Colesar, 8-2, while Karissa Dinger and Cheyenne Helman earned an 8-5 win over Sierra Grice and Jenna Cowder.
"Karissa and Cheyenne showed strong determination and worked well together to win their first varsity match," head coach Graffius said.
Clearfield's only two wins came from the tandems of Miller-von Gunden and Angela Moore-Kristen McKenzie.
The former two beat Paulina-Patience Carley 8-2, with the latter ending up victorious over Caroline Weaver-Jenna Miller, 8-1.
Punxsy (1-0) returns to the courts today for its first road match of the season when it visits Brockway at 4 p.m. The Lady Chucks' next home match begins at 3 p.m. Friday against St. Marys.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 27 August 2008 )
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