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Eagles fall short in battle with Scarlets

By Travis Rosenau 3 min read

NEW ULM -- The New Ulm Eagles found themselves on the short end of a couple three-set matches on Thursday, allowing the Mankato West Scarlets to pick up a 5-2 victory in a nonconference girls tennis meet at New Ulm High School.

Despite the defeat, the Eagles had their moments and made it tough on the Scarlets. Two extra bright spots for the Eagles came from their top two singles players.

At No. 1 singles, Carmen Schotzko defeated Monir McCabe 7-6 (7), 6-2, while Natalie Fischer beat Stelle Schweim 6-1, 6-3 at No. 2 singles.

Fischer started the year at No. 1 singles before swapping places with Schotzko. The duo have often been New Ulm's most consistent players in what has been a challenging season so far, and the switch to 2 doubles was no issue for Fischer.

"I think being at 2 is my spot for the team because Carmen's doing her job at 1, and I think my place is 2," Fischer said. "It just really works for how our team is set up."

The Eagles, now 1-11 on the year, have looked for ways to remain competitive this season, which has included a variety of different doubles pairings and sometimes moving a singles player to doubles.

Fischer read -- and at times rode -- the wind to success on Thursday.

"I think playing with the wind was what was helping," Fischer said. "Knowing what side I was on, how to place the ball based on where the wind was coming from definitely helped. … My first serve was having some struggles with the wind."

Fischer had the shortest time on the court in singles competition, giving her team an early win in what was shaping out to be a battle for the team victory.

"Just stepping up, knowing when I should be showing up for my team and by getting the win, it's showing up for my team," Fischer said. "Just doing what I can."

West moved to 5-10 with the win.

Schotzko had to dig deep in her first set and managed to pull out the big win on a tiebreaker. That confidence and boost of momentum set her up well for the second set and she was able to roll to a 6-2 win in it to get the match win.

Mankato West's No. 1 and 2 doubles teams took care of things early on in the meet, with the No. 1 doubles pair of Maleah Giesen and Claire Roering defeating Brielle Evans and Regina Soto 7-5, 6-0 and the No. 2 doubles team of Sage Matteson and Shelby Jones defeating Annika Wyffels and Eleanor Grathwohl 6-1, 6-2.

No. 3 doubles took a little longer to finish, but the West team of Scarlett Cordes and Sophie Huiras completed a comeback by defeating Edith Ahlbrecht and Ellie Martinka 2-6, 6-0, 6-4.

No. 3 singles saw New Ulm's Avah Kruse out in front early, but her opponent Alex Oberle mounted a comeback of her own and put the match away late with a 5-7, 6-3, 10-6 win.

At No. 4 singles, New Ulm's Lilly Rieger fought hard in the second set but was unable to come back for the victory as Bri Zernechel won 6-0, 7-5.

The Eagles now prepare for Section 2AA playoffs, which begin with the quarterfinals at 4 p.m. Tuesday at the high seed. Currently the Eagles don't know their opponent, but Fischer said the team is just looking to continue to improve and have fun doing it.

"I would just like to see our team do well and come together and just have fun, honestly," Fischer said.

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