Grace Hanson hustles to return a ball during her tennis match against Pipestone Area’s Jenna Boeke on Aug. 30.

Win or lose, BEA’s girls tennis team put up a good fight against the Redwood Valley Cardinals and the Pipestone Area Arrows last week.

While the Bucs’ face-off with the Cardinals on Aug. 25 resulted in a close, but satisfying 4-3 victory for BEA, an Aug. 30 match against Pipestone Area brought a tough 6-1 loss for the Bucs.

Pipestone Area 6, BEA 1

The Arrows flew straight on Aug. 30, piercing the Bucs with a 6-1 defeat after a series of hard-fought matches.

Pipestone Area scraped a victory at No. 1 singles when BEA’s Addison Armstrong was narrowly defeated by Pipestone Area’s Toryn Woelber 7-6, 7-5.

Buc Olivia Dutton won BEA its sole victory at No. 2 singles, however, beating Arrow Brielle Kulm in a 7-5, 6-4 nailbiter.

No. 3 singles was another heartbreaker for the Bucs when BEA’s Grace Hanson lost a close match to Pipestone Area’s Jenna Boeke, 6-4, 6-4.

Pipestone Area came out swinging at No. 4 singles when Arrow Jasmine Boeke secured a decisive win against Buc Grace Schavey 6-1, 6-2.

A contentious No. 1 doubles match eventually landed a victory for Pipestone Area’s Alyssa Enger and Madison Purdin over Bucs Lauren Survis and Carol Schrader.

The first set went to the Arrows 6-4, but the Bucs fought back to secure the second set 6-3. The third set brought a win for Pipestone Area, however, when the Arrows slammed the Bucs 6-0.

BEA’s Ashlyn Klinkner and Erika Gaydon also suffered a defeat to Pipestone Area at No. 2 doubles when they faced Arrows Alicia Hauck and Vivian Brockberg. Pipestone Area took the match in straight sets 6-3, 6-3.

At No. 3 doubles, a three-set battle eventually brought a final victory for Pipestone Area.

Bucs McKinley Hanson and Addison Prescher won the first set 7-5, but Arrows Addison Draper and Laura Minet staged a comeback to win the second and third sets 6-3, 6-3.

“Tough match today,” head coach Spencer Monson commented on Aug. 30. “Our kids competed well – it was close at most positions.” 

He added, “Our doubles played pretty well, and we continue to see a lot of improvement from them.” 

BEA 4, Redwood Valley 3

Redwood Valley put up a fight against BEA on Aug. 25, but the Bucs edged out the Cardinals by one match to secure a 4-3 victory.

BEA’s singles players allowed the Cardinals just one singles victory during the match.

“The top singles players had another great day,” Monson noted. “Grace Hanson especially played a very good match - she served very well today.”

At No. 1 singles, Armstrong slammed Cardinal Brooke Zollner with a quick 6-1, 6-0 win for the Bucs.

Dutton was similarly ruthless when she faced Redwood Valley’s Lily DeBlieck at No. 2 singles. The match was Dutton’s in straight sets, 6-0, 6-1.

Buc Grace Hanson did not allow Cardinal Lauren Dolezal a single point at No. 3 singles, securing a clean 6-0, 6-0 win for BEA.

Redwood Valley found its sole singles victory at No. 4 singles, when Buc Schrader faced Cardinal McKenna Flinn. Flinn brought in a 6-1, 7-5 win for Redwood Valley.

Monson was also pleased overall with the performance of BEA’s doubles teams, observing, “The doubles teams competed well.”

A tight No. 1 doubles match between Bucs Survis and Gaydon and Cardinals Mila Jenniges and Anneliese Hammer was eventually settled in Redwood Valley’s favor.

When the first set ended in a narrow 7-6 victory for the Cardinals, it was settled by a 7-4 tiebreaker, which Redwood Valley won more decisively. The Bucs suffered another narrow loss in the second set, which eventually went to the Cardinals 6-4.

Redwood Valley’s No. 2 doubles team, Julian Brown and Julia Lang, brought their A-game against BEA’s Addison Prescher and Erin Prescher. The match went to the Cardinals in straight sets, 6-1, 6-4.

No. 3 doubles brought a final victory for the Bucs when McKinley Hanson and Brooklyn Rosenau defeated Cardinals Taylor Klabunde and Michelle Smith in straight sets, 6-2, 7-5.

Coming up next, BEA was scheduled to take on Maple River in an away-match on Sept. 2.

The Bucs will play their second home match against the Fairmont Cardinals on Thursday, Sept. 8.

See the results in next week’s issue of the Faribault County Register.