New Ulm girls tennis suffers tough loss to Belle Plaine
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NEW ULM -- New Ulm fell to Belle Plaine 6-1 in a nonconference girls tennis meet Thursday, dropping to 4-10 on the season.
New Ulm sits in second-to-last place in the section, with only Worthington below them. New Ulm appears headed for a play-in game for the Section 2AA tournament, where it would take on Worthington to get into the final spot of the playoffs. The good news for the Eagles is that they defeated Worthington 6-1 on Sept. 16 and would be in position to host that play-in game.
New Ulm switched up its lineup significantly in the meet against Belle Plaine, with the usual top-two singles players, Karlee Prahl and Joci Petterson, playing at No. 1 doubles. There they picked up the team's only win of the meet with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Olivia Walter and Alyssa Schumacher.
"When you make one change at the top singles, then everything gets moved around," New Ulm head coach Pete Engeldinger said. "Karlee and Joci like to get one doubles match in. Then we moved up our three and four singles up to one and two, then we brought the traditional doubles over to three and four singles.
"We fought well. I think the three and four singles did great. You get into one and two, and that's going to be usually their best players. But our girls did great, and that's fun. And Belle Plaine's got a nice program. They've had a nice season."
Lily Kral, who usually plays at No. 2 or No. 1 doubles, had a strong match at No. 4 singles, though she fell 6-4, 6-4 to Cora Rosenwinkel. Carmen Schotzko also put together a good fight at No. 1 singles, falling 6-4, 6-2 to Lydia Sparby.
New Ulm travels to Le Sueur-Henderson on Monday.