SL-O girls move into regional semis with pair of wins

The Spirit Lake-Okoboji girls' tennis team coasted past Storm Lake and Spencer in the first two rounds of Class 1A regional team competition Saturday, May 16 at River View Tennis Courts in Spencer.

"The girls are all playing really well," said Spirit Lake-Okoboji head coach Bob O'Hara. "Spencer is a quality team. They're tough and talented top to bottom, and play great singles. I think the combination of talent and determination has a way of wearing our opponents out. They hang with us a while, but just don't seem to be able to keep it up. I told the girls that we couldn't make careless mistakes today. They really responded. I think our unforced errors were the lowest they've been all season."

SL-O defeated the Tornadoes and Tigers by identical 5-0 scores to advance to a semifinal round match against Le Mars. The Bulldogs upended Denison-Schleswig 5-4 in the regional quarterfinals. SL-O has already defeated Le Mars twice this season.

Against Storm Lake, SL-O swept all five singles matches in decisive fashion.

Alli Gerking defeated Amanda Helmbrecht 6-2, 6-3, Aubry Kolegraff knocked off Linda Her 6-2, 6-1, Cassidy Clarity posted a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Amanda Kovan, Kathleen Rowley beat Samantha Kovan 6-1, 6-0 and Kylie Stoll knocked off Emily Deters 6-1, 6-0.

Gerking started the match off on a winning note against Spencer -- defeating Hannah Maertens 6-1, 6-1.

"Alli played really well against Spencer's Hannah Maertens in the afternoon match," said O'Hara. "Alli's added a lot of variety to her game this season. I think it's all starting to come together for her."

Kolegraff pulled out a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Jennifer Barnett at No. 2 singles before Rowley built the lead to 3-0 with a 7-5, 6-0 win over Holly McCloud.

"Kathleen was down 4-1 in the first set, but stormed back to win the match," said O'Hara. "She is one of the mentally toughest players on our team. No lead is safe against Kathleen."

Stoll and Olivia Skogerboe put away the Tigers with two more singles wins. Stoll scored a an impressive 6-2, 6-0 victory over Jill Wittrock and Skogerboe defeated Lutda Lovan 6-3, 6-1.

"Kylie was as focused as I've ever seen her. Today was her best outing of an outstanding season. I can't believe how much progress Kylie has made playing only two years of high school tennis," O'Hara said. "Olivia just keeps getting better as well. Olivia is another player who's added variety to her game."