MASON – In the shadows of the Western & Southern Open professional tennis tournament, the Wilmington High School girls tennis team defeated Toledo Notre Dame Academy 3-2 Saturday at the Lindner Family Tennis Center.

“It was a thrill for us to play and coach within the atmosphere of a big professional tournament,” WHS head coach Doug Cooper said. “The players remained focused as thousands of patrons roamed the grounds and dropped in on our matches on the north courts. Most of the players have already played in that environment and the freshmen adapted seamlessly. This is a focused team.”

Wilmington led 3-1 when the final match was called off. The WHS pairing of Rachel Barker and Kristina Walt won the first set 6-2 and trailed just 1-2 in the second set when play was stopped.

“We had a doubles player become affected by the heat after a delayed start, so the match at second doubles was retired for the safety of the player,” said Cooper. “By then the outcome of the team match had been decided. We had won the first set easily on that court, but player safety has to come first.”

Wilmington is 2-1 in this event. Other teams playing this year were Holland Springfield, Mt. Vernon and Perry.

”These are tennis communities with very strong USTA youth programming ties,” said Cooper.

Allie Kees and Claire Burns were easy winners in singles play while Emma Schroeder and Jenna Taylor won at first doubles. Zane Bekheet dropped a marathon match at third singles.

SUMMARY

Aug 18 2018

Western & Southern Open

High School Showdown

@Lindner Family Tennis Center

Wilmington 3 Toledo ND Academy

Singles

• Allie Kees def Claire Kersten 6-1, 6-1

• Claire Burns def Sarah Miller 6-1, 6-2

• Zane Bekheet was def by Kathryn Riddle 2-6, 7-6 (7-5), 8-10

Doubles

• Emma Schroeder, Jenna Taylor def Natalie Doumet, Taylor Roscoe 6-1, 6-1

• Rachel Barker, Kristina Walt were def by Maia Dray, Amanda Deku 6-2, 1-2 (ret.)