(Chelsea Update would like to thank Matt Pedlow for the information and photo in this story. And, in case you missed it yesterday, check out this story to learn more about the game of tennis.)
The Chelsea girls’ tennis team won the Sturgis Open for the 3rd consecutive year this past Saturday.
Winning their flights for Chelsea were:
- Carli Martin at 4 singles
- Kendall Tucker/Morgan Moore at 1 doubles
- Madisen Chinavare/Madelynn O’Hara at 3 doubles
- Corrine Dale/Gretchen Kuras at 4 doubles
Taking 2nd place in their flights were:
- Emma Catalina at 3 singles
- Maddie Pedlow/Julia Schachinger at 2 doubles
“The girls played outstanding against three teams that are all expected to make the MI State finals,” said coach Matt Pedlow.
“Our doubles really propelled us to the victory, winning 11 out of 12 matches,” he said, adding, “As coaches, we’ve been really stressing the mental aspect of the game, and the girls proved they are strong players by winning 6 out of 7 tiebreakers. This was the difference in the match.”
Pedlow said, “The only tiebreak we lost was at 2 doubles, and Schachinger and Pedlow couldn’t have had a closer match, losing 7-5, 6-7, 10-8 in the 3rd set tiebreak. It was a matter of one or two points and the victory would have been theirs.”
The coach said the rest of the doubles flights played well together. “Chinavare and O’Hara were great together. Chinavare played her best tennis of the year, she’s really gaining confidence and she was determined to out hit her opponents,” he said.
At 4 doubles, the new team of Dale and Kuras struggled at first to play as a team, but once they did they attacked every mistake by their opponents.
“I was very pleased with their play, I think both of them bring something different to their game,” Pedlow said.
At 1 doubles, Tucker and Moore played “he best tennis that I’ve seen them play in the past 3 years. Their game was on, Kendall was serving great, and Morgan was fierce at the net. They just played like we’ve been telling them they have the capability of playing, it was great to see them find out how good they can be,” Pedlow said.
Both Martin and Catalina won 2 out of 3 matches for the Bulldogs, and both figured out a strategy against very different opponents.
“Catalina has a tendency to beat girls who are technically better than her, but Emma is a very smart player and probably the most competitive player we have. She is determined to win and makes adjustments throughout her matches to ensure her success,” the coach said.
The girls play Flint Powers on Wednesday in what will be their biggest match yet. The team hopes you will come on out and watch.
(Publisher’s note: I plan to be there so if you need help figuring out what’s going on, find me and I’m glad to explain.)
