Lady Thunderbirds come up clutch at home

The rainy conditions earlier in the day didn’t stop Lakeland girls’ tennis from playing, and beating, a conference foe at home.

The Thunderbirds beat Pacelli 4-3 on Tuesday at the Lakeland Union High School tennis courts. 

Ellie Baker uses a groundstroke in attempts to get the ball over the net in her No. 4 singles match against Pacelli Tuesday, Sept. 12 at the Lakeland Union High School tennis courts in Minocqua. Baker won 6-2, 6-0.
(Photo by Brett LaBore/Lakeland Times)

“This was a really big win for the girls because Pacelli is always in the conference running so proud of the girls to pull out a win, and it’ll help towards conference tournament time,” coach Tom Oestreich said.

Three of Lakeland’s four wins came courtesy of their doubles teams. Savannah Barton/Kristina Ouimette at No. 1 doubles faced some adversity. After winning set one 6-0, they lost set two 0-6 to Julie Milbauer/Anabelle Arnold. 

Lakeland stayed strong for the third set. Savannah Barton/Ouimette won the third set 6-2 to help the Thunderbirds win the match. Ouimette found the back of the court for the set three win, the fourth win for the Thunderbirds as a team.

“Rollercoaster of a match there,” Oestreich said. “(Barton/Ouimette) started off strong and (Milbauer/Arnold) really (played) their game in that second set and the big thing — nice to see the girls responding in the third set and take that one 6-2. They really pulled it together, stayed confident and finished really strong.” 

Charley Cleveland/Ali Timmerman, No. 2 doubles, were the first ones off the court. They quickly beat Hannah Trzinski/Samantha Schoepke 6-1, 6-0.

“Once (Cleveland/Timmerman) got going, they played really efficient tennis,” Oestreich said. “One of the best matches they played this season with minimal mistakes. Good job for them.” 

At No. 3 doubles, Lila Biller/Alyssa Erickson were looking to continue their season success. Together, they beat Reagan Abel/Megan Peterson 6-2, 6-3.

“I think we just went in there, and we were focused, and we just knew what we needed to do to get it done,” Erickson said. “We went in there and from Saturday we learned a lot at the (Wausau West) tournament, and I think we focused on what we did bad there, and we really used those weaknesses to our advantage tonight.”

“This was very big. Me and Alyssa played very well together, we communicated very well together,” Biller said. “I think this was one of our best games.”

Biller and Erickson mentioned the chemistry the two of them have. At one point, Erickson went cross court before Biller slammed it home at the net. 

“A lot of the balls that we got at the net tonight instead of just hitting them hard,” Erickson said. “We were getting good angles and splitting the other team apart.”

“It is going so well. Me and Alyssa from the beginning of the season to now we’ve improved so much together,” Biller said. “Our communication is so good. Our friendship is just growing so much.”

Erickson is proud of her teammates as the Thunderbirds move closer to a conference championship.

“Our team is mostly juniors and a couple of seniors. We’re playing really well and have a fair shot at winning conference,” she said. “We have a lot of fun.”

Lakeland’s one win at singles came courtesy of No. 4 singles Ellie Baker. She beat Caitlyn Yarbrough 6-2, 6-0. When Baker took over varsity No. 4 singles, she knew how important her spot in the lineup was.

“Personally, it was kind of just more of a mental thing for me because I was kind of having a bad day before this, and I was like ‘if I win this, it’ll really bring me up.’ Our doubles team is really good and Pacelli’s singles are really good,” Baker said. “Like coach (Oestreich) said a few weeks ago that (No. 4) singles spot can be a really swing spot and so when (Yarbrough) started catching up to me in the first set, I guess I kind of just was like ‘OK, I need to bring it up and I just need to stop getting in my head about this and just swing away’ because if I get in my head and I just lose it, then I’m just going to get down on myself.”

Baker talked about how close the tennis team is and how it’s helped her.

“I really appreciate it. The tennis team is so close. Tennis is always a family, and I feel like if I do good, and I come to cheer them on with a good attitude, they usually end up doing better,” she said. “And when they do it for me, I feel like I should do it for them.”

Starting the season on JV, Baker has successfully moved up to the No. 4 singles spot, helping the Thunderbirds win the match against Pacelli.

“It wasn’t as hard and as stressful as I thought it was going to be. I always kind of had this back thought in my mind, ‘I don’t want to be on varsity because I don’t want to have the stress of being like you have to win,’” she said. “But I think we make it a good atmosphere, ‘Hey if you don’t win, you learn.’ So just another thing I appreciate about the team.”

Sarah Barton played Natalie Cooper at No. 1 singles. Cooper won 6-3, 6-2. Sarah Barton and Cooper had a couple of rallies as both players went back and forth. In the end, Cooper came out on top.

Lauren Loesl defeated Norah Strasburg 6-2, 6-3 at No. 2 singles. Loesl had a strong serve that helped her get points. Strasburg used a drop shot to pick up a point.

Elise Lamers, No. 3 singles, fell 2-6, 1-6 to Morgan Matowitz. Lamers had an ace and a point down the line. Ultimately, Matowitz proved to be too strong, winning the match.

Lakeland played at Medford on Thursday. The Thunderbirds are looking to redeem themselves after the Raiders won 4-3 in Wausau last week. Coverage of this match will be in the Tuesday, Sept. 19 edition of the Times. 

Up next, the Thunderbirds (9-3, 5-0) play in a quad at Wisconsin Rapids Lincoln High School on Saturday, Sept. 16. The quad starts at 9 a.m.

Brett LaBore may be reached at [email protected] or [email protected].