Girls tennis: La Salle-Peru tops Ottawa 8-1 in Interstate 8 dual

LA SALLE — The La Salle-Peru girls tennis team protected its own courts at the L-P Sports Complex on Tuesday with an 8-1 Interstate 8 Conference victory over rival Ottawa.

The Cavaliers swept all three doubles matches and took five of the six matches in singles, including senior Eva Cervantes at No. 1 with a 6-1, 6-4 triumph over the Pirates’ Yaquelin Solis-Hernandez.

“I hadn’t played her before, it’s normally a different girl, but she was sick today, so [Ottawa] had to switch up its lineup. I guess my strength is playing angles, so my plan was to see how she moved back and forth. It took me a little while to adjust to how she played, because she really liked to use short drop balls.

“I feel like I was in a pretty good groove in the first set, but then early in the second set I struggled a little. I was able to get focused back in and was able to finish pretty well.”

The hosts also took the Nos. 2-5 single matches, starting with Grace Pecchio topping Brooklyn Byone 6-1, 6-1; followed by Izzy Pecchio defeating Gabby Cooper 6-2, 6-3; Dagny Greer getting past Reese Purcell 6-1, 6-3; and Phoebe Shetterly defeating Tessa Diaz 6-1, 6-3.

Ottawa junior Laurel Fisher claimed the lone Ottawa win with a 6-1, 6-0 triumph over Ari Milby at No. 6.

“My game is to stay on the baseline and try to hit as many shots as I can deep into my opponent’s court, normally deep lobs,” Fisher said. “I feel like I play better staying back unless I absolutely have to go to the net. I’m getting better with my net play, but today I just kind of stuck with what I know works best for me.

“I’m actually normally a doubles player, so to get a win playing singles is pretty cool.”

In No. 2 doubles, L-P’s Haylee Pangrcic and Raleigh Leininger earned a 6-0, 6-1 victory over Ottawa’s Perla Gutierrez and Reese Purcell, while the Cavs’ No. 3 duo of Meredith Politch and Stacie Albiter picked up a 6-4, 6-4 win over the Pirates’ Andie Kerestes and Rhoin Zopp.

Then, in the final match, L-P’s No. 1 team of Cali Mickley and Elena Leone came back to defeat Ottawa’s team of Hernandez-Solis and Byone 6-2, 7-5.

In the second set, Mickley and Leone trailed 2-0 and 5-4 before coming back for the victory.

“I feel like it became a mental thing for both of us,” Mickley said of the slow second-set start. “After the first set we started playing tighter for whatever reason. Then during that first side switch after losing the first two games of the second set, we talked about how we needed to get back to how we played the first set.

“I think we both just started thinking too much, and we both play better when we just play.”

The pair has only been a team for a short time, but Leone said she already feels the two will eventually mesh very well.

“This was only our third time playing as a doubles team, " Leone said. “We are still trying to learn how each other plays and trying to mix what we both do well together. I feel like the more we play together, the better we are going to get together. I think we took another big step today.

“Even though we had a couple tough spots today, I felt like our energy was really good.”