GCHS senior Torrie Lopez (shown here playing earlier this season) said this week that she is optimistic about the Lady Devil tennis team’s prospects for the year. Lopez, who plays No. 1 singles for the team, lost to Richfield but won against South Sevier last week. Photo by Mary Rice
On Thursday morning, Grand lost to the Lady Wildcats in a close 2-3 contest. Senior Brianna Ballard took home one of Grand’s two victories of the match, beating her opponent in the first singles slot. Fellow senior Torrie Lopez had tougher luck and lost her match in the No. 2 singles division. GCHS freshman Kayla Weston continued her winning streak and took home the victory in No. 3 singles.
Both of Grand’s doubles teams fell in their matches, with junior Jacey Johnson and freshman Brityn Ballard losing the No. 1 singles division, while junior Madi Stocks and sophomore Cora Johnston suffered a similar fate in No. 2 doubles.
Grand’s junior varsity players served up much better results, with all of them winning their contests. Sophomore Robin Wilscheidt won in No. 4 singles, while juniors Kim Lewis and Shalia Harmison and sophomores Cassidy Walker and Tierra Hawks won in the No. 3 and No. 4 doubles divisions, respectively.
Later that day, the Lady Devils played South Sevier, in a match where Grand showed better control and scored a 4-1 victory.
Grand kept the same players in the singles division, and all three of them swept their matches, earning three of the Lady Devils’ four wins for the day. Johnson and Ballard suffered another loss in the No. 1 doubles division, but Grand’s coaches switched Harmison and Wilscheidt into the No. 2 doubles position, where the new duo earned Grand’s fourth win of the match.
Grand’s JV players struggled a bit against South Sevier. Wilscheidt played No. 4 singles again, but lost her match this time. Lewis and Walker played in the No. 3 doubles slot, while Johnston and Hawks played the No. 4 doubles. Both doubles teams won their matches.
Senior Torrie Lopez said that both matches were valuable for the team, despite the loss to Richfield.
“At Richfield, we had some great wins and a few unfortunate losses. But now we’ve seen them play and we’re ready to face them again at region,” Lopez said. “At South Sevier, everyone played really well. We had some long matches though. It was one of those days where we really got to play a lot of tennis and see where and what we need to work on. But now that we’ve seen it we can fix it before we go into region.”
Grand’s next matches were scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 11 away at Emery and Gunnison, and on Thursday, Sept. 13 at home against San Juan in the Lady Devils’ homecoming match. Play begins at 3 p.m. Varsity play is scheduled for Thursday, while junior varsity will play San Juan on Friday, Sept. 14 at 3 p.m.