A week after the DVC openers were postponed due to extreme heat, Neuqua Valley girls tennis welcomed rival Waubonsie Valley to the courts on a warm, windy Tuesday afternoon. The Wildcats used their depth and strong singles roster to hold off the Warriors for a 4-3 team victory. This highlight is sponsored by BMO.
Neuqua Valley shows strength in singles
Starting at one singles, where Neuqua sophomore Jennifer Tang takes the top spot for the Wildcats. Squaring off on the other side of the net is one of the new members of a young Waubonsie roster, freshman Sahana Dinesh.
Playing in the near court early, Dinesh takes a serve and uses a two-handed backhand to whip a return in play and out of reach for the point.
Later in the opening set, Tang is still working in the far court. She sends her opponent to the left corner for a return before waiting back and ripping a forehand to the other corner. Tang wins the first set 6-2.
In the second set, both players exchange a lengthy rally back and forth. Dinesh returns a shot near mid-court, which allows Tang to charge and power a ball to the back line. Dinesh tries to play it off the short hop but doesn’t get enough on the ball, and it’s a point for the Wildcat, who takes the win 6-2, 6-0.
Another Waubonsie freshman playing on varsity is Jaya Kumar in two singles against Grace Qu from Neuqua Valley. In the early stages, Qu responds to a brief rally with a strong backhand to Kumar’s right that the Warrior is unable to keep in play. Qu takes the first set 6-1.
In the second set, Kumar unloads a strong serve on the inside corner of the box, forcing an error as Kumar grabs a point with an ace.
Later in the set, Qu has Kumar facing match point. An exchange of lobs gets the point started. Eventually, the Wildcat uses a sinking backhand that skims over the net, forcing an error from Kumar. Qu wins in straight sets to give Neuqua an early team lead. The Warriors do pick up a win in three singles behind the efforts of Myrna Jamal.
Warriors even the score with the top doubles teams
Moving on to doubles, where the visitors look to flip the script. Going head-to-head in the number two matchup, Chloe Cochran and Kerri Gaur from Waubonsie take on Annika Shen and Emma Mathew from Neuqua.
With Cochran serving in the near court, Shen takes the initial return before Mathew pushes a shot over. Cochran attempts to send a line drive back, but she finds the net as the Cats snare the point.
More strong play from the girls in blue and gold. After a Shen serve, Cochran goes for a smash, but Shen recovers and sends back a high lob that takes an extra high bounce thanks to a strong wind gust. That throws off Gaur’s timing as she goes for the leaping return. The first set is all square at four games apiece.
The Warriors recover with Cochran again on the serve, this time in the near court. The junior moves forward and whips a two-handed shot that Mathew deflects back over. Gaur scoops the ball out and back over to earn the point as Waubonsie takes the last two games for a 6-4 opening set win.
Neuqua serves in the second set looking to stay alive when Cochran gets a big smash at the net, hammering home a winner as Waubonsie takes the second set 6-2, tightening things up on the scoreboard.
One doubles features one of the fiercest battles of the day with Mehar Kaur and Kaylee Shen from Neuqua against Aditi Yalamati and Devi Rao from Waubonsie.
After a serve from Shen in the near court, a rapid volley of returns goes back and forth near the net. Kaur trades shots with both Warriors, but eventually hits the net, with Waubonsie earning the point.
Later in the opening set, Rao and Kaur get a rally going until Shen cuts in with a shot that slices down the middle to help the Wildcats win the first set 6-4.
In a hard-fought second set, Neuqua hopes to put things away. Kaur serves in the far court and a return that kisses the line, before Rao flips a backhand over near the middle. Shen again plays well at the net and powers another point home for the Cats.
Neuqua hangs on for the narrow team win
But the Warriors battle back to win the second set 7-6 and force a first-to-ten points tiebreaker. Rao and Yalamati team up for a pair of strong shots to close things out with a 10-6 win in the tiebreaker. Waubonsie wins the top two doubles matchups, but Neuqua hangs on for the 4-3 team victory thanks to wins in three and four doubles. An exciting way to begin the DVC schedule.
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