USC’s Olivia Schwartz hits a running forehand shot in her match against Sibley East.

The United South Central girls tennis team saw their first action of the season when they played host to Sibley East on Thursday, Aug. 27.

The two evenly-matched teams battled to a 3-3 tie through the first six matches. The deciding match was at No. 1 singles and it came down to a third set super tiebreaker before Jac Wibstab of Sibley East claimed the match with a 10-8 victory over Alyson Swanson to send Sibley East home with a 4-3 team victory.

Swanson lost the first set 6-2 and trailed in the second set 5-4. The senior never gave up however, and rallied to take the second set 7-5 to set up the tiebreaker.

Sibley got the first win of the day when Rachel Widmer defeated Olivia Schwartz 6-1, 6-0 at No. 2 singles.

Sibley also claimed the match at No. 3 singles when Mallory Sylvester downed USC’s Elizabeth Romero 6-1, 6-3.

The next three completed matches all went to USC.

Delaney Weber and Lauren Zebro downed Sibley’s Ashtyn Bullert and Chloe Reyes 6-2, 6-1, at No. 2 doubles.

USC’s Brooklyn Yokiel and Hannah Olson defeated Morgan Thoele and Morgan Bednarek 6-3, 0-6, 12-10, at No. 3 singles.

The No. 1 doubles match also went to USC. Macy and Maya Zebro scored a 6-3, 3-6, 10-7, victory over Holly Otto and Jess Widmer.

Shelby Dieball claimed the No. 4 singles match for Sibley East with a 6-3, 7-5, triumph over Kelsie Chapman of USC.

“The conditions were brutal out on the court today,” USC head coach Andre Rueda commented. “Not to take anything away from our team, but I thought the Sibley East players handled the heat and humidity just a little better. It was tough for both teams.”

USC returns to action on Thursday, Sept. 3, when they go on the road to take on Tri-City United in a match scheduled to begin at 4:15 p.m.