Submitted by Jeff Swanson

In a challenging week of tennis, Roseau’s girls’ tennis team had their hands full with two of the top teams in Section 8A and an East Grand Forks team that is a contender in Section 8AA. The team continues to play better and compete harder in their matches and they are seeing positive results.

In a home triangular on Sept. 29th, the Rams started out the morning against East Grand Forks. In what has become an all-too-familiar scenario, Roseau played very well and the match felt dead even, but the Green Wave managed to come out on top. Jessie Danielson and Erin Brandt dominated at 1st doubles in a 6-0, 6-3 win. At 3rd doubles, Lindsey Vistad and Bryn Wilson played the longest and closest match of the 2022 season and came out on top in a 6-7(4), 7-6(4), (10-6) win. The Rams also won first sets at 4th singles (Quinn Kruger) and 2nd doubles (Karli Wensloff/Marissa Glodowski), but dropped the second sets in both matches and eventually lost in tiebreakers. What for a time looked like a 4-3 win turned into a disappointing 2-5 loss for Roseau. Further highlighting Roseau’s ability to play even with East Grand Forks, both varsity exhibition matches ended in wins for the Rams - Ava Holmgren/Abby Swanson won 6-1, 6-3 and Kali Wibbels/Dakota Dunham won 6-2, 3-6, (10-6).

In the afternoon match of the home triangular, Roseau seemed to come out flat after the tough loss in the morning. Facing the Park Rapids Panthers, a Section 8A title contender, meant that the lack of energy really put the Rams at a disadvantage. In a match with seeding implications for the 8A doubles tournament, Jessie Danielson and Erin Brandt had to alter their match strategy after a 0-6 loss in the first set, which paid off in a 6-3 win in the second set. Unfortunately, the girls lost the razor-close tiebreaker 10-12. Lindsey Vistad and Bryn Wilson, playing again at 3rd doubles, got Roseau’s lone win of the match as they cruised to a 6-0, 6-3 victory. In the end, Park Rapids handed the Roseau girls a 6-1 defeat.

Things didn’t get any easier on Saturday, Oct. 1st in Crookston, as the girls faced off against Park Rapids and Crookston. Missing a few key players, the shorthanded Rams battled hard against the Panthers in the opening match but lost by a 6-1 score for the second time in three days. Abby Swanson had Roseau’s only win, a grind-it-out 6-3, 6-4 win at 4th singles. The exhibition players fared better, as Kali Wibbels/Josephine Hinson won 6-1, 6-0 and Tessany Blazek/Aubrie Lee won 6-0, 6-4.

In the afternoon match at the Crookston Triangular, the host Pirates cruised to a 7-0 victory. The Roseau girls hit the ball well and were in many excellent rallies, but Crookston seemed to always be a little quicker to the ball and a little more consistent in their shots. Ava Holmgren and Abby Swanson, playing 3rd doubles, had the Rams only set win, bouncing back from a 0-6 loss in the first set to win the second by a 6-4 score. Crookston, however, was able to win the decisive tiebreaker 10-7.

After difficult matches to end the season, Roseau’s varsity team gets a long break to rest, recover, and re-focus for the Section 8A tournament, which begins on October 13th at CourtsPlus in Fargo.