On a cold and windy day at Joel Tonda Tennis Courts, the Norwalk Girls Tennis Squad came away with a season opening win over Knoxville 9-0 on Tuesday in both teams season opening matches. Due to the weather conditions, each match was played to a pro-ten score with the closest match in singles coming from the Maasdam Sisters as Olivia and Janie fell 10-7 to Norwalk’s Kelsey Dammeier and Ava Johnson at one and three singles respectively. Also picking up singles wins for the Warriors were Anaya Kallenbach at #2, Madison Haskell at #4 and Sami Aagard at #6. Norwalk swept the three doubles matches. For the Panthers Olivia Maasdam and Jayden Streigle tell KNIA/KRLS Sports it was not the desired results, but they know things will get better…
Olivia: “I think I got most of the jitters out of the way, and I beat her last year, but I just couldn’t get it done this year.”
Jayden: “It was tough to come out against one of the hardest teams we’ll play. I think I was able to step up when I got to doubles and play for my partner Janie, so I think that’s what I need to do in singles.”
Meanwhile, Norwalk Coach Kristin Geisler told KNIA/KRLS Sports her team came ready to play and was pleased to get the win…
Geisler: “The last several meets we’ve played with Knoxville have been very competitive. I feel it was a good opener. I think our players came out focused and ready to go.”
Norwalk is 1-0 on the season and will travel to Oskaloosa on Tuesday while Knoxville will host Pella on Thursday.