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Durango girls tennis gains momentum in Montrose

Two thrilling doubles wins and the continued improvement from a senior singles player had the Durango High School girls tennis team collectively feeling good heading into postseason play.

The Demons lost 4-3 at Montrose on Saturday in the final match before the regional tournament begins Thursday morning in Grand Junction.

Senior Kit Hackett was the lone singles player to win for the Demons against the Indians. She won the No. 3 singles match 6-4, 6-4 against sophomore Micaiah Nichols.

Hackett finished the weekend trip 3-0.

“Great weekend for Kit. We’ve adjusted her style of play the last few weeks, and she had some success with it,” DHS head coach Dave Weisfeldt said. “We know what her weapons and limitations are, and it’s just a matter of building a game around that so she has options when she sees different style players at regionals.”

The Demons found two thrilling wins at Nos. 3 and 4 doubles.

The team of Rheagan Kaufmann and Hailee Pritchard beat Meg Franc and Madilyn Leuthauser 7-6 (7-5), 4-6 and 12-10 in a 10-point tiebreaker.

“They were down 9-6 in that tiebreaker and were able to steal it away,” Weisfeldt said.

That match ended on a Montrose double fault.

“You never want to see a match end that way, but our girls were relieved to come off the court with a win,” Weisfeldt said. “I’m not sure, but I don’t think that Montrose team had a loss all season before that.”

Twin sisters Chloe and Emily West capped off the day with a thrilling match of their own, beating Sara Bray and Jessica Ennis 6-3, 2-6, 12-10. They also fought off a match point to come back and win.

“Outstanding job for them staying focused in the match and not letting the nerves and pressure get to them,” Weisfeldt said.

Sarah Harrelson, a DHS junior, lost her No. 1 singles match 6-1, 6-0 to Alyssa Arellano. Kellyn Alexander defeated DHS junior sophomore Maggie Hackett 6-1, 7-5 at No. 2 singles.

“Sarah had a rough weekend, no doubt about it. She was inconsistent, and her opponents capitalized on it,” Weisfeldt said. “Maggie played a great match after struggling to find her game. She made a match of it in the second set.”

Skylar Barr and Ruby DeCora lost 6-2, 6-3 at No. 1 doubles to Alexandra Engel and Chloe Peterson. Durango’s Audrey Morris and Jenni Snowberger fell 6-1, 6-4 to Lindsey Davidson and Allie Freeburg at No. 2 doubles.

The Demons’ varsity squad will head to Grand Junction on Wednesday in preparation of the regional tournament. Weisfeldt was happy to see Montrose before going into postseason play, and he knows Steamboat Springs will be tough again, too.

The one unknown, he said, is Aspen, as the Demons didn not face the Skiers in the regular season this year.

“It’s postseason time. We have to go in with good game plans for the opponents we know and not let the nerves get to us,” Weisfeldt said. “There’s always a few great unknowns, but we’ll prepare the best we can.”

heraldsports@durangoherald.com



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