Mt. Pleasant girls continue to grow

MT. PLEASANT — It’s been a year of learning for the Mt. Pleasant girls tennis team. The all-new varsity squad has taken its lumps early, but the Panthers are starting to find some success, even winning their first game this week.

Mt. Pleasant notched its first ’W’ on Monday when the Panthers sneaked past Notre Dame 5-4. On Tuesday, the Panthers fell 7-2 to Fort Madison, but head coach Steve Scott said he continued to see his squad take steps in the right direction.

“They struggled really early, but we have gotten better,” said Scott. “We’ve shown a lot of improvement the last couple of days.”

Coming into this year, Mt. Pleasant had no returning letterwinners. Only two members of the seven-player roster had ever played high school tennis.

On Monday, the Panthers went 3-3 in singles play to give themselves a chance when doubles rolled around. Savana Walls led the way with an 8-0 win at the No. 1 position, quite the feat for a player who is new to the sport.

She didn’t even come out the fist two weeks,“ Scott said. ”She came out the Monday of the third week, we played that Thursday and she’s been No. 1 for us the whole year.“

Melanie Olivas and Maleena Yocum picked up their first varsity wins on Monday. Olivas won the No. 4 match 8-4, and Yocum took the No. 5 match 8-5.

Maggie Fitzpatrick dropped the No. 2 game on Monday, falling 8-3. No. 3 Gisele Fajardo lost 8-2, and No. 6 Jenny Dykstra fell 8-6.

The Panthers clinched their first win with two victories in doubles. The No. 1 squad of Walls and Fajardo won 8-6. The No. 3 squad of Yocum and Dykstra won 8-3, and the No. 2 team of Fitzpatrick and Olivas lost 8-5.

On Tuesday, Fitzpatrick notched her first varsity win, taking her match 8-6. Olivas won her second-straight, sweeping 8-0.

In other singles matches, Walls lost 8-4, Fajardo dropped her game 9-8 on a 7-5 tiebreaker. Yocum fell 8-0, and the Panthers forfeited the No. 6 game due to only having five players available.

In doubles, Walls and Fajardo lost 6-1, and Fitzpatrick and Olivas fell 6-0.

The Panthers are now 1-6 on the year, with just three games left in the regular season. Coach Scott says the team is playing the best they’ve played all year.

“It’s just nice that some of the girls got to taste some success,” Scott said. “It’s hard to keep your attitude up if you don’t have some success.”

Mt. Pleasant travels to Fairfield on Thursday.