SYRACUSE - When the Manchester High School girls tennis team got a win at Wawasee two years ago, there was a celebration and photos taken. When it did it again Thursday, the atmosphere was much more subdued.
Improving to 3-2 on the season, the Lady Squires posted a 4-1 win over the Wawasee Lady Warriors (2-4), marking the team's third-straight conquest over Wawasee.Manchester's win streak over the Warriors began in 2008 at Wawasee, and marked the Lady Squires' first win in a year-and-a-half.
Following a rough 2009 season, third-year Manchester coach Tim McLaughlin is happy to see the wins coming a little bit easier this season.
"Last year, we only had a couple wins, and this year, this is already our third win," he said. "Right now, we're just pretty solid at all five courts. It seems like in previous years, we had to rely on three spots to win a match. Now, I feel like I have five positions, that on any given night, can win."
On this night, Manchester jumped out and won the first set on all five courts, but Wawasee did bounce back to win the second set at No. 3 singles and No. 2 doubles.
"In the second sets, what we had were kids with determination and a mental attitude that they want to win," Wawasee coach Roger Brady said. "We've only won two matches (this season), but that doesn't matter, because they want to win every match they're in. It covers up a lot of errors when you have that attitude."
And according to Brady, his team's making too many errors, leading to four-straight losses after getting off to a 2-0 start this season.
"We're still a team working on skills and not really understanding the strategy," Brady said. "We really struggle on hitting shots well, so we can't really worry about where to hit the ball. Consequently, we give other teams the advantage."
By losing the first set on all five courts, Wawasee once again gave the opposition the advantage, which Manchester capitalized on.
"It's great to have all five spots win the first set, because that puts the pressure on the opponent," McLaughlin said.
The first three courts to finish up were all Manchester wins, which were accomplished in two sets by Jessica Bedke (6-1, 6-1) at No. 2 singles, Tara Gnagy (6-1, 6-2) at No. 1 singles and the No. 1 doubles team of Skye Haywood and Rebecca Ruppert (6-4, 6-4). Manchester's Melissa Grant won the final match of the day, with a 6-0, 4-6, 6-4 win at No. 3 singles.
As a junior, Gnagy went 10-5 last season, and with Thursday's win, she improved to 3-2 in 2010.
"She got off to a little bit of a rough start this year, but she's come back this week and won three matches," McLaughlin said. "She's played real good tennis this week and I plan for her to have a good season."
While McLaughlin is looking for Gnagy to have a good season, Brady is optimistic his team can improve too, as Cayla Hilgenberg and Morgan Geer's 5-7, 7-5, 6-3 win at No. 2 doubles was his team's lone victory against the Lady Squires.
"We have to come back, and there's just certain shots we need to work on," Brady said.
And it's not just working on those shots during the tennis season that will help the Wawasee program return as a threat in the Northern Lakes Conference.
"When we have kids that are dedicated to playing tennis, outside of a month in the summer and when the season starts, then we'll get better," Brady said.
Wawasee hosts Fairfield today at 4:30 p.m., while Manchester hosts Rochester Monday at 5 p.m.
