By Sydney Booth
What Happened: The Lady Reds destroyed its first home match against Greeley Central 6-1 on April 8. It was a great night for both singles and doubles after coming off from a loss to Holy Family 4-3 on April 5. At Holy Family, no pair of Eaton doubles players came away with a win, but every singles player was successful. Against the Greeley Central Wildcats, momentum carried and doubles players made up for their loss at Holy Family.
By the Numbers: No. 1 doubles players Emily Harper (16) and Courtney Leafgren (17) easily defeated their opponents with set scores of 6-1 in the first and 6-1 in the second. Both teammates seized the opportunity to crush some overhead shots, and their consistent groundstrokes ultimately gave them the win. Leafgren said, “The best part was just coming back from a loss and being able to get back into our game.” The pair will continue to improve in practice, after the upcoming week of matches, that is. Harper said, “I need to work on placement. I feel like I hit a lot of balls right to them, so I can work on better placement and getting a better angle on the ball.” The only loss of the night was an incredibly tough battle for Myiah Scott (17). She won the first set 6-2 in an epic display of finesse, but her opponent, Morgan Smith (16), matched that in the second set and beat Scott 6-2. Since they were split sets, they played another set and Scott was beaten 6-0. In all cases except Scott’s, every single/doubles team held Central to under four games won in each set.
And the Crowd: It was a beautiful day to play tennis, and perhaps an even better day to spectate the sport. It was neither cold, nor windy and the sun was shining. Eaton fans were seeing a ton of success from all of the players spanned out amongst the six courts and it was a generally pleasant viewing environment.
New season, new lineup: Eaton’s new varsity lineup contains one freshman, four sophomores, four juniors, and two seniors. The three singles players this year (in order) are Myiah Scott (17) , Lindsey Leafgreen (18), and Shelby Naill (17). Number one doubles this year are Emily Harper (16) and Courtney Leafgren (17). Darcie Kaiser (18) and Mackenzie Mawson (17) are No. 2 doubles, Kadie Griffith (18) and Ashton Hall (16) are No. 3 doubles, and No. 4 doubles are Abby Sears (18) and Maddie Harper (19).
Next Up: The Reds will take on the Mead Mavericks on Monday April 11 on Eaton’s home courts. The weather forcast (an important factor in tennis) is partly cloudy with a high of around 70 degrees.
