ISHPEMING — The Westwood High School girls tennis team pulled off a split of two home matches played against Delta County competition on Wednesday, blanking Gladstone 8-0 before falling to Escanaba 7-1.

Sami Ruby was the Patriots’ lone double winner, posting a 6-1, 6-1 win over Escanaba’s Molly VanDamme and a 7-5, 6-0 victory over Gladstone’s Addie Trombley.

“Sami Ruby played two great matches,” Westwood head coach Sarah Massie said in an email detailing the results. “She’s been working on not playing ‘safe’ all the time and trusting her shots. I was excited to see her play the way she did today and beating two solid opponents.”

“We knew Escanaba was going to be a tough opponent at every flight. Despite the loss, we saw some good things at every flight.

“We have another opportunity to play them Monday before we move on to (Mid-Peninsula C)onference and (Upper Peninsula Finals) tournaments. These tough matches are what help prepare us for U.P.’s at the end of the year.”

That dual meet at Escanaba at 1 p.m. Monday comes just before the M-PC meet at Negaunee on Wednesday morning.

Despite Ruby being the only Pats’ player to win both her matches, she had the most trouble in singles against Gladstone as her teammates — No. 1 Lexi Olson, No. 3 Emersyn Nelson and No. 4 Morgan Schneider — won each of their singles matches without losing a game, 6-0, 6-0.

The Westwood doubles pairings also didn’t drop a set in their sweep, though none were 6-0, 6-0.

Against Escanaba, the closest loss for Westwood came at No. 3 doubles, where the Eskymos’ Val Royer and Sophie Wagner pulled off a tight 7-6 (7-4), 7-5 victory over the Pats’ Niila Nurmi and Eliisa Doney.

Three other matches also saw Westwood win four games in each set — No. 1 singles player Olson, No. 1 doubles tandem of Izzie Marta and Alyssa Couveau and No. 2 doubles duo of Nolia Dawson and Kaylin Doney.

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Marquette 8, Munising 0

On Wednesday at Marquette, the home team lost just one set as MSHS’ No. 2 doubles team of Eva Sjoholm and Mylee Muscoe rebounded for a 6-1, 4-6, 6-1 victory over the Mustangs’ Kate Mattson and Jailen Hancock.

“Our phenomenal group of seniors, who we celebrated today, really led the way,” Marquette head coach Karl Thomsen said in an email with the results. “At No. 2 doubles, seniors Mylee Muscoe and Eva Sjoholm had to dig deep to come up with a nice three-set victory.

“Hats off to Coach (Abbie) Hayes and Coach (Richard) Prunick for being great advocates for tennis in Munising. They have a great group of young ladies who possess an extraordinary amount of athleticism. There were solid matches all over the courts.”

Thomsen also mentioned several of his other players.

“I was really happy for (No. 4 singles player) Petra Frazier, another senior, as she rallied from a 4-1 deficit in the first set to win in straight sets,” he said. “At No. 4 doubles, our senior team of Elena Henry and Amelia Bouws was on fire as they picked up their first varsity win.

“(The No. 3 doubles tandem of) Maija Parkkonen and Logan McFarren showed a high level of compete to fight back after being in a 2-5 hole in the first set. This also was a special victory as it marked Logan’s first varsity win.”

He added that McFarren is a sophomore on the team.

MSHS has one more dual meet, at Negaunee at 4 p.m. Monday, before embarking on the Great Northern Conference meet at Escanaba on Wednesday morning.

Information compiled by Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.