Cloquet-Esko-Carlton was bounced out of the Section 7AA tennis tournament on Tuesday in a 7-0 loss to Hibbing-Chisholm.
"Hibbing dominated us up and down the lineup Tuesday," said CEC coach Steve Rickstrom late Tuesday night. "We had tried loading up our doubles teams against them as they easily beat our best line up earlier in the year. Even with five of our top seven players in doubles, we still couldn't scrape out a win in any match."
Kristi Gregory lost at No. 1 singles to Katie Bolf 6-1 and 6-0. At No. 2 singles CEC's Rakel Bork fell 6-0, 6-1 to Hillary Bundgarden. At No. 3 singles Sheila Martin of CEC fell 6-0 and 6-0, and at No. 4 singles it was Savannah Hanson losing to Lauren Tromp 6-0, 6-1.
The CEC No. 1 doubles team of Molly Fistler and Laura Castle fell 6-1, 6-3, and at No. 2 doubles the CEC team of Sydney Burud Erickson and Kelsey Collier lost to Brekke Huddleson and Brittaney Geiselman by scores of 6-2, 6-0. At No. 3 doubles, CEC's Becca Lind and Alicen Johnson lost to Lisa Perunovich and Emily Michelson.
"We did have some nice moments out there on Tuesday," explained Rickstrom. "Hibbing just has the experience and deserved the win and we wish them the best as they compete for the section championship next week."
ADVERTISEMENT
- CEC opened play on Monday with a 4-3 win over Duluth Central as they picked up wins from Laura Castle and Rakel Bork at No. 3 and No. 4 singles, respectively, and from their No. 2 and No. 3 doubles teams. Alicen Johnson and Becca Lind won at No. 2 doubles and at No. 3 doubles it was a win for Savannah Hanson and Sheila Martin.
"The match against Central started out with a big surprise as their top foreign exchange player was out with an injury," stated Rickstrom. "We had another big surprise as our third doubles team stepped up and won a key match in the victory. Savannah and Sheila struggled early in the year, but lately they have been a very solid doubles team for us."
- As a foot note to the season the Jacks had three players - Kristi Gregory, Kelsey Collier and Sydney Burud Erickson - named to the Lake Superior All-Conference Team. Gregory was voted fourth for singles play and Burud Erickson and Collier were voted third for doubles play.
"Being named all-conference is an honor for any player and everyone on the list should be proud that they were nominated by their coaches and then voted in by opposing coaches," explained Rickstrom. "I am not a big fan of the way our all-conference players are selected, as deserving players are left off or ranked below players they defeated in matches."
Despite being eliminated from the sectionals as a team, the Jacks will still have a chance to send players on to the state tournament through the individual competition which will begin later this week. Gregory and Bork will represent the team in the singles competition and Fistler, Castle, Burud Erickson and Collier will represent the Jacks in doubles competition.
