After a winless 2015 campaign, the Montezuma-Cortez girls’ tennis team got a win in its first day of competition of the 2016 season.
The Lady Panthers hosted Delta High School and Miyamura High School in round-robin play on Saturday at Parque de Vida.
Seniors Raquel Lucero and Skye Cole each started with wins against Delta, with Lucero winning the number one singles matchup 6-1, 6-2 and Cole taking the number two singles contest 6-0, 6-1.
But the Lady Panthers were unable to win any of their following matches, and Delta snagged a 5-2 win.
Andria Battle and Angel Veach fell in their number two doubles match (2-6, 4-6), Jennifer Thurman and Courtney Kocourek lost their number three doubles contest (0-6, 3-6) and Ronnie Dennison and Aubree Rice dropped the number four doubles match (0-6, 0-6).
Laurel Chappell – in her number three singles contest – and the number one doubles team of Ashley Moore and Kristin Pierce, both lost their matches by tiebreaker.
But in their next matchup against the visiting Miyamura Patriots, the Lady Panthers put a strike in the win column with a 5-2 win of their own.
Lucero and Cole each won again to stay undefeated on the season, and Chappell won 6-0, 6-0 as the Lady Panthers swept the singles matches.
“Skye played really solid both matches and both were against really good players,” said head coach Catherine Anliker. “And Raquel won both matches and she played really well too.”
Then in doubles play, Battle and Veach won the number two matchup and Dennison and Rice won their number four doubles contest, while Moore and Pierce and the team of Thurman and Kocourek each dropped their matchups.
The Lady Panthers’ 5-2 takedown of Miyamura is their first team win since the 2014 season.
“It’s exciting and I’m really proud of them,” said Anliker. “I didn’t know what to expect going into it, but I’m really happy for the progress that we’ve made the last couple of weeks in practice and to get that first win.”