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Trojan tennis falls 1 match short
Central DeWitt outlasts Fairfield girls tennis team in regional final
Southeast Iowa Union offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
FAIRFIELD — It was as intense as a morning of high school girls tennis can get at Fairfield Middle School on Saturday, when the Trojans hosted Central DeWitt in a clash to see who would move on to the 2025 state team tennis tournament.
The Trojans and Sabers were two of the best Class 1A teams all fall, and they proved to be as evenly matched as it gets. Unfortunately for hosting Fairfield, the Sabers were one match better.
Central DeWitt outlasted Fairfield 5-4 in a battle that went right down to the very last game, as the Sabers handed the Trojans their only loss of the fall and ended the team portion of the road to state for a talented Fairfield group. The Trojans had made it to Saturday’s final with a semifinal sweep of Camanche on Wednesday.
“We knew it was going to be tough,” said Fairfield head coach Travis Duncan. “They’re a great team, and we knew we were going to have to bring our A-game. We just didn’t quite have enough to make it over the hump.”
Three singles matches went to a 10-point tiebreaker, and all six were absolute battles as the two teams went at it for two hours before the opening portion of the meet was completed.
Fairfield’s Poojita Mukadam had the only Trojan sweep in singles, taking out Central DeWitt’s Greenley Grell, 6-2 and 6-3, to lock up the first point.
Ria Ross had to scrap and claw to beat former Central DeWitt number one Anna Prosise in the No. 3 matchup, winning 6-3, 2-6, 10-8.
Natalie Steele fell in a heartbreaker, losing 2-6, 6-2, 10-7 at No. 2, and Sriya Yammanur and Mareyn Duncan were beaten 6-0, 6-4 and 6-4, 6-0 respectively in the No. 4 and No. 5 games, which gave the Sabers a 3-2 lead with just one singles match still playing.
With the entire crowd watching. Faeven Gebremariam battled out a thrilling tiebreaker victory at No. 6 singles. She knocked off Central DeWitt’s Audrey Wilke 6-4, 4-6, 10-7, to send the matchup into doubles all tied up at 3-3.
State doubles qualifiers Ross and Yammanur did what they needed to do in the No. 2 doubles match, winning 7-6 (7-4), 6-4. That finished out a perfect day for Ross, and notched another big win for a red-hot doubles squad.
Unfortunately, that was all the doubles wins the Trojans would get. The No. 1 team of Mukadam and Steele fell 6-4 and 6-1, and the No. 2 team of Dunkin and Gebremariam fell 6-0 and 6-1 at No. 3.
Though the Trojans are out of the team race, four Fairfield players are still competing in this week’s individual and doubles team tournaments. Mukadam and Steele will play in the Class 1A individual tournament, and Ross and Yammanur will battle it out in the doubles bracket this week in Iowa City. Those tournaments start on Wednesday and go until Thursday.
