Girls' Tennis Team Ousted At Sectional
28 May 2009

The Manchester High School girls’ tennis team saw their season come to an end Thursday night at the Peru Sectional at the hands of the host Lady Tigers 3-2.
Peru had beaten the Lady Squires 3-2 earlier in the season, and Manchester was hoping for a different outcome, and they nearly pulled it off.
Tara Gnagy improved to 10-4 on the season at number one singles with a 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-2 win over Ashley Ancil. Gnagy advanced to the individual sectional tournament that started this week with the win.
“Tara didn’t get off to the best start, but finished strong,” coach Tim McLaughlin said. “She has done a great job all season for us. It takes a good player to beat her.”
Sadie Preston lost her match at number two singles 6-4, 6-3 to Lauren Conner, but Jessica Bedke won her match at three singles 6-3, 6-4 over Emily West.
Shelby Rager and Jenna Alexander lost at one doubles to Ashley Ward and Savannah Harvey 6-2, 6-3 and Skye Haywood and Rebecca Ruppert lost in a strange way at two doubles 6-1, 9-8 (5) to Erin Murphy and Dresden Moxley.
The teams battled to a 6-6 tie in the second set, which should have led them to a tiebreak. Instead, all four players kept playing the set out. McLaughlin and Peru coach Mike Saine met with the girls at 7-6, and had to pull out the rule book that stated the set would then continue and a tiebreak would be played if the set was tied at 8-8, which is was.
“We didn’t get the second set tiebreak at 8-8, but who knows what would have happened if we played at 6-6,” McLaughlin said.
Despite winning just two matches on the year, McLaughlin saw improvement in his team throughout the season.
“We had a lot of 3-2 losses this year,” he said. “We play a tough non-conference schedule, and that probably helped us play some better matches later in the season. Hopefully this will give the girls some confidence heading into next year. But, they will have to work on their games and hit the weight room this summer.”
The Lady Squires lose just one senior from the varsity squad, Jenna Alexander. Number one JV player Kaitlyn French also graduates.
Manchester ends the season with a 2-10 record.