NEGAUNEE — Negaunee took a 7-1 victory over visiting Marquette in a high school girls tennis match played Thursday.

Three matches went the maximum three sets, all won by the Miners, who improved to 6-1.

“It was a chilly day for tennis,” Negaunee head coach Megan Kerkela said in an email detailing the result. “Marquette came out with a great team, which resulted in three really close matches.”

Sentinels head coach Karl Thomsen agreed about the day’s competitiveness.

“Overall, I really liked the way our girls competed,” he said in his own email about the meet. “Although we only were able to come away with one match win, there were three other matches that went to three sets.”

In singles, the No. 3 flight featured the battle of Stella, with the Miners’ Stella Lenten prevailing over Marquette’s Stella Dehlin 6-3, 5-7, 6-3.

“(No.) 3 singles was a great match, Stella Dehlin from Marquette hits a great ball,” Kerkela said. “Luckily, Stella Lenten was able to respond and dig deep to pull out a win.”

Then at No. 3 doubles, Negaunee’s Paige O’Donnell and Tori Poutanen pulled out a 5-7, 6-2, 6-2 win over the Sentinels’ Charlye Swajanen and Eva Dewitt.

“Paige O’Donnell stepped up big … filling in at (No.) 3 doubles,” the Miners’ coach said. “With senior leadership from Tori Poutanen, they were able to pull away 6-2, 6-2 after losing a hard-fought first set 5-7.”

And the third three-setter happened at No. 4 doubles, where Negaunee’s Jillian Symons and Aubrey Harper fashioned a 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-5) marathon victory over Marquette’s Grace Jandreau and Brynn Helman.

“At (No.) 4 doubles, the duo of Aubrey Harper and Jillian Symons had the closest match of the day,” Kerkela said. “They came out strong with a 6-3 (win in the) first set, followed by the next two sets heading to a tiebreaker. Marquette was able to win the first tiebreaker 7-5, followed by Negaunee winning the next tiebreaker 7-5. The match was about as close as you can get.”

“I’m proud of how our Nos. 3 and 4 doubles battled their butts off,” Thomsen said. “All four of those girls have shown a tremendous amount of growth since the beginning of the season and I look forward to seeing their progress over the next few weeks.”

And he was of course pleased with the victory the Sentinels picked up at No. 4 singles when MSHS’ Kirra Longton prevailed over Negaunee’s Addi Chapman 6-3, 6-0.

“Kirra Longton has really been working hard at practice on her racquet preparation and it paid off today as she hit the ball super clean and was able to pull out a victory against one tough opponent,” the Sentinels coach said. 

Negaunee was dominant in the other four flights, the Nos. 1 and 2 in both singles and doubles, and lost a total of just three games between those matches.

Both teams are back in action this afternoon on the road, Marquette at Escanaba and Negaunee at Kingsford. The Miners then host Ishpeming on Wednesday afternoon and travel to Iron Mountain on Thursday afternoon, with the Negaunee Invitational scheduled for Saturday morning.

Negaunee 7, Marquette 1

Thursday at Negaunee

SINGLES — No. 1, Lili Saunders (N) def. Marin Johnson 6-0, 6-0; No. 2, Rheana Nelson (N) def. Nora Skytta 6-1, 6-0; No. 3, Stella Lenten (N) def. Stella Dehlin 6-3, 5-7, 6-3; No. 4, Kirra Longton (M) def. Addi Chapman 6-3, 6-0

DOUBLES — No. 1, Nicole Kerkela-Clare O’Donnell (N) def. Eva Kentala-Lola Rink 6-0, 6-1; No. 2, Olivia Richards-Sadie Rogers (N) def. Kylie Smith-Logan McFarren 6-0, 6-1; No. 3, Paige O’Donnell-Tori Poutanen (N) def. Charlye Swajanen-Eva Dewitt 5-7, 6-2, 6-2; No. 4, Jillian Symons-Aubrey Harper (N) def. Grace Jandreau-Brynn Helman 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-5)

Westwood 8, Marquette 0

On Monday at Marquette, coach Sarah Zindler was worried about her Patriots after not playing for awhile.

“After being rained out last week, we haven’t played a match in almost a week,” she said in her email detailing the match. “I thought the girls played really well.

“We’re starting to talk about managing our emotions throughout a match, especially when things get tight.”

And tight it was at No. 2 doubles, where Westwood’s Makenna Olson and Ella Stacy pulled out a 6-1, 6-7 (6-8), 6-3 victory over the Sentinels’ Kylie Smith and Logan McFarren.

“No. 2 doubles had to battle back in a third set after losing the second in a close tiebreaker,” Zindler said. “I thought they were both very strong at the net … and was happy to see them mentally battle back after losing a close tiebreaker.”

The other seven matches were all decided in two sets, with easily the closest coming at No. 4 doubles, when the Patriots’ Emerson Williams and Lauren Michaud-Richards held on for a 6-4, 7-5 triumph over Marquette’s Grace Jandreau and Brynn Helman. The Westwood duo won the final five games after trailing 2-5 in the second set.

“No. 4 doubles is always the flight you end up playing around with a little bit at the start of the season before you find the right combination of girls,” Zindler said. “I really think Emerson and Lauren are starting to figure their game out. Their strengths really compliment each other. I was excited to see them have to battle … and get the win.

“All four singles players played solid matches. They’ve all been playing very consistent and know their own game.”

Those four Patriots’ players — No. 1 Sami Ruby, No. 2 Morgan Schneider, No. 3 Lyn Magnuson and No. 4 Emmi Hamel — lost a combined eight games.

Westwood is at Gwinn on Wednesday afternoon, then hosts Munising on Thursday afternoon.

Westwood 8, Marquette 0

Monday at Marquette

SINGLES — No. 1, Sami Ruby (W) def. Marin Johnson 6-0, 6-2; No. 2, Morgan Schneider (W) def. Nora Skytta 6-0, 6-1; No. 3, Lyn Magnuson (W) def. Stella Dehlin 6-0, 6-0; No. 4, Emmi Hamel (W) def. Kirra Longton 6-1, 6-4

DOUBLES — No. 1, Niila Nurmi-Kaylin Doney (W) def. Eva Kentala-Lola Rink 6-4, 6-4; No. 2, Makenna Olson-Ella Stacy (W) def. Kylie Smith-Logan McFarren 6-1, 6-7 (6-8), 6-3; No. 3, Tessa Burke-Emmi Carlson (W) def. Charlye Swajanen-Eva Dewitt 6-4, 6-2; No. 4, Emerson Williams-Lauren Michaud-Richards (W) def. Grace Jandreau-Brynn Helman 6-4, 7-5

Story contents based on emails received from several area high school tennis coaches. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.