Down their top player and competing through rain and cold wind, Durango’s version of the Demons was better than those from Glenwood Springs.
The Durango High School girls tennis team won six of the seven varsity matches played against Glenwood Springs on Friday afternoon at DHS.
Durango dominated the majority of the matches, even with every active player moving up one spot on the roster with No. 1 singles player Sarah Harrelson already gone for spring break.
“It’s going to make the team tougher when they play up from where they normally have to,” DHS head coach Dave Weisfeldt said.
Maggie Hackett slid into the No. 1 singles spot and had no problem beating Glenwood’s Sophia Nelson 6-1, 6-2.
“I really just wanted to step into every single shot and hit to the best of my ability,” said Hackett, daughter of Dan Hackett and Denise Cleaves. “I made it quick and easy.”
Hackett’s sister, Kit, played at No. 2 singles and played in the most competitive match of the day. It ended up being Durango’s lone loss of the day as she fell to Ivy Wight 7-6 (13-11), 1-6 and 11-9 in a tiebreaker. Wight still is undefeated this season.
After losing a back-and-forth first set via a tiebreaker, Kit Hackett earned two big breaks in the second set to win 6-1. She didn’t quite have enough to come out on top in the final tiebreaker to determine the match as Wight’s big first serve kept her guessing. The match lasted nearly two hours.
“Even though we lost that match, we thought she played great,” Weisfeldt said of Kit Hackett. “Kit won’t get a rematch against her this year because she will go back down to No. 3 singles and see a different opponent. But her sister will get a crack at her, so family revenge maybe later.”
Durango’s Hannah Liberman took advantage of a chance to move up from doubles to No. 3 singles and had no problem taking a 6-0, 6-0 win against Kelly Tran.
“Hannah has been chomping at the bit to get some singles experience, and she really made the most of it,” Weisfeldt said.
Liberman’s big first serve helped her finish the match in only 30 minutes.
“My serve is probably the best part of my game, and I was confident in it,” said Liberman, daughter of David Liberman and Linda Fitts-Liberman. “If the person I’m playing has a good return I can’t use my serve as a weapon as much, but (Friday) I could use it to get games.
“I was hitting harder shots and going for it. I was confident.”
DHS swept all four doubles matches. Skylar Barr and Jenni Snowberger defeated Maritza Ruiz and Kenna Zilm 6-1, 6-0 in a quick match. Audrey Morris and Hailee Pritchard didn’t drop a game in beating Taylor Fiscus and Avery Nieslanik.
The sister duo of Chloe and Emily West hung on in a tough second set to pick up a 6-1, 7-5 win against Becky Eggelston and Hannah Slack.
Ruby DeCora and Jasmine Herrera closed out the day with an evenly matched win at No. 4 doubles against Nina Alloy and Linda Ramirez. DHS won 7-5, 7-6 (8-6) just before dark.
DHS will host Fruita Monument in another match at 9 a.m. Saturday. Weisfeldt is expecting tougher matches Saturday, especially at doubles.
“We are happy with these wins against Glenwood. We didn’t know what they were going to bring because we don’t have much experience with them, but we know we have to be ready for different styles of play every team we see,” Weisfeldt said.
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
