The Durango High School girls tennis team had a close dual with Grand Junction High School on Friday at home and nearly took down the Tigers.

Durango won three of the four doubles matches, but Grand Junction won the three singles matches and won the dual, 4-3.

“A 4-3 loss to GJ isn't a bad day at all, and tomorrow they get a chance to improve on that,” said DHS head coach Darren Tarshis.

The two teams will play again at 9 a.m. Saturday at DHS. The Demons will then play Delta about 11 a.m.

Friday, the Demons started a little slow and lost the first set in all of their matches.

“It was our first home match, so they looked tight at the beginning,” Tarshis said. “Home matches take some getting used to because we are so used to travel.”

Durango’s doubles teams in particular, however, started to loosen up and play like they practice, Tarshis said. Durango’s No. 1-3 doubles each won their second set and closed out their matches with wins in their third sets.

At No. 1 doubles, Adwyn Chowen and Juliet DiGiacomo rallied after losing their first set, 6-4, to Ellie DeHerrera and Harper King. The DHS duo won the second set 6-1 and closed out a victory with a 6-3 win in set 3.

At No. 2 doubles, Lola Bradshaw and Ellie McLean lost a close first set 7-6(6), but came back and won the next two sets 6-3 and 6-2.

At No. 4 doubles, Avery Edgar and Rachel Ager won in straight sets 6-3, 6-1 against Madison Sites and Sarah Gaumer.

Litzy Lopez and Addie Cady lost their first set 7-5 at No. 3 doubles, came back and won the second set 7(7)-6, but fell 6-0 in the third set.

The other matches were competitive, but the Tigers came out on top.

At No. 1 singles, Sophia Gallagher lost to Emma Aubert in straight sets 6-0, 6-1.

Ellie Davenport took on Emmy Thompson at No. 2 singles but fell 6-2, 6-1.

At No. 3 singles, Sydney Pritchard lost 6-0, 6-2 to Natalie Hanks.