By Jacob Heid

STEVENS POINT — The race at the top of the Wisconsin Valley Conference for girls’ tennis is heating up. The Panthers are two points out of first place with another sweep on the tennis court. SPASH controlled all seven matches against Rapids on Sept 20, collecting seven points and moving to 62 in the conference season.

All seven matches seemed to go in favor of the Panthers early on. No. 1 Tatum Thielman had control of her opponent from the get-go. The senior swept Rapids’ Corinne Sazama in straight sets, 6-0, 6-0. She has won four of the five conference matches the team has played. Thielman has a chance to go 5-1 in conference play before the conference tournament. 

The other Panther singles play had similar success against Rapids. No. 2 Rylan Woytasik moved swiftly through her match, winning 6-3, 6-0. Addison Jandrain and Lily Meeks, the No. 3 and 4 players for SPASH, both won convincingly. Jandrain beat her opponent 6-4, 6-1, while Meeks clean swept hers, 6-0, 6-0.

Head coach Michele O’Donnell talked during the match about the consistency of the team and what the rest of the season holds. In terms of consistency, she mainly emphasized how she hasn’t had to mix up the lineup too much throughout the season.

That includes both the singles and doubles lineups. The doubles teams had more competitive matches against the Red Raiders. All three SPASH teams came out on top, but the sets were closer. Caroline Blakeman and Berit Borgnes played tight with their opponents and fought for a 6-3, 6-4 victory in the No. 1 spot. The duo of Sophia Brandt and Jessica Kleman finished their match the same. The No. 2 doubles team consisting of Annika Borgnes and Abby Erwin had control from the start. The two won their match in two sets, 6-1, 6-0. 

The Panthers are two points shy of Wausau West, who is 6-0 in conference play. SPASH has one more conference match against Wausau East on Sept 22 before the conference tournament on Sept 29. They can take over first place with three match wins against the Lumberjacks. If you have other local sports stories, you can contact me at [email protected]. You can also follow me on Twitter at JacobHeid_15 for updates on local sporting events.