While most fall sports athletes wait anxiously on the
sidelines for their respective seasons to get underway, golfers and tennis
players have already seen quite a bit of action. Case in point: with summer
still in session, the Blue Streaks’ girls’ golf and tennis programs have
already racked up some impressive wins.
Girls golf
First, Lake hit the fairways for Hudson’s Lady
Explorer Invitational on August 11. The Blue Streaks participated in the
morning wave, which was held at Lake Forest Country Club. Teeing off against 19
other schools, Lake rode the hot hand of Charlie Brophy to place first with a
team score of 355, five strokes up on runner up Kent Roosevelt.
Brophy, a sophomore, set a blistering pace on the
front nine with a 37 and finished with an 80, the third-highest score on the
day. Meanwhile, junior Elizabeth King carded an 89, good for a two-way tie in
eighth place.
The Blue Streaks also received solid contributions
from senior Olivia Gant and freshman Audrey Goebelt, who each posted rounds of
93, respectively, while junior Isabella Feher was just one stroke from
finishing in the top 50 with a 104.
Girls tennis
In tennis, the Blue Streaks rattled off two wins in
the past week, first defeating visiting Youngstown Boardman 3-2 on Aug. 12 before
traveling to Canton South, where they knocked off the Wildcats by the same
score.
Against the Spartans, No. 2 singles Emily Erickson was
nearly perfect as she dispatched Liza Letunova, 6-1, 6-0. Meanwhile, No. 1
singles Ava Doane got in the win column by handily defeating Nina Sinchak, 6-3,
6-3, while Hanna Bauer was defeated at third singles.
The match of the day was the three-set thriller at
first doubles between Lake’s Kiley Schrock and Olivia Pruce and Canton South’s
Dimitra Coutris and Madison Kromer. After dropping the first set, Coutris and
Kromer rallied in the second to tie things up. Schrock and Pruce regrouped in
the third set for a 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 victory that put Lake over the top. These two
teams will meet again on September 19 when the Blue Streaks visit Boardman.
The very next day, Lake visited two-time defending
Northeast Tennis Conference champ Canton South at Art Fuchs Tennis Courts and
relied on stellar singles play to down the Wildcats.
At first and second singles, the Blue Streaks were
masterful, winning in straight sets. Doane took no prisoners as she downed Abi
Stinchcomb 6-0, 6-0, while Erickson won her match, 6-3, 6-1. At third singles,
Bauer split the first two sets with Canton South’s Bella Smith before rolling
to victory in the decisive third set for a 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 victory.
It was a good thing Bauer came through, because Lake’s
doubles teams each lost, despite spirited play against the Wildcats. First, Pruce
and Schrock were narrowly defeated by Canton South’s Brooke Lockhart and Lila
Covert, falling 7-5, 4-6, 6-7 (6). At No. 2 doubles, Avonlea Ake and Victoria
Hobson also lost in three sets, 2-6, 6-3, 3-6.
