Huskies stop Comets in first round of girls tennis team regional

Press Staff Report

DECORAH — For those who believe that competitions should always have a winner and a loser in the end may find the format for regional tennis team tournaments exasperating.

Once the winning team secures the fifth out of nine scheduled matches, all other matches are halted and essentially get recorded as “no contests”.

During the first round of the Class 1A Girls Tennis Region 4 Team Tournament last Friday in Decorah, the Oelwein Huskies managed to advance past the Charles City Comets when they reached their fifth win.

Charles City had defeated Oelwein during the regular season, and last Friday got a No. 1 singles victory from sophomore Sofia Alinea, who defeated Kendra Rechkemmer 6-0, 6-3; and a No. 4 singles victory with freshman Jacy Hall defeating Emily Taylor 6-4, 6-0.

Comet junior Sofia Parrott won the first set over Mackenzie Palmer 6-0 in No. 6 singles; and Charles City seniors Marissa Avelar and Anya Ruzicka were closing on a straight-set victory over Taylor and Macy Schulmeister while leading 4-2 in the second set after winning the first set (7-5).

But both matches were halted when Oelwein recorded the clinching fifth win.

The Huskies advance to the semifinal round on Tuesday where they will face the hosting Decorah Vikings at 9 a.m. The winner advances to the regional championship at 2 p.m. that day to face the winner of the Aplington-Parkersburg vs. Waverly-Shell Rock semifinal.

The season is not over for Alinea, who won the Class 1A Region 4 Singles Tournament the week before to advance to the Class 1A Singles Tournament, May 30-31 at Black Hawk Tennis Club in Waterloo.