Wabash High School

The tennis team concluded their season Friday night after losing 1-4 to Southwood in the sectional semi-finals. After losing the first set 1-6 and being down 2-5 in the second set, Alexa Johnson (1 singles) fought as hard as she could to even out the score at 5-5. Eventually, she ran out of steam and lost the set 5-7. Coach Ford shared, “Alexa played her best tennis of the entire season tonight. I’m so proud of her for making a comeback and not giving up. Her leadership and experiences will be missed both on and off the court next year”. At 2 singles, Emma Adams played the longest match of the night, playing well over 2 hours. She dropped the first set 4-6. In the second set, she was able to claw her way back into the match and won in a tiebreaker 7-6 (4). The third set was a battle. Emma was not able to pull off the victory and lost 4-6. Coach Ford shared, “Emma is a fighter. Her rallies were long, and many of the games went into deuce. Although I wish she could have pulled out the win, she has absolutely nothing to hang her head about. I’m excited to see the role she will take on next year as a senior”. Hadley Schuler, playing 3 singles, was the lone winner of the night. She took care of business quickly, winning 6-0, 6-3. Coach Ford shared, “Hadley has been a solid player for us all season. She is someone that I knew was capable of getting us a point in most matches. Her positive attitude and her tennis abilities will allow her to be a leader on next year’s team”. Abbi Hipskind and Maddie Von Uhl teamed up at 1 doubles. The duo dropped their first set 3-6. In the second set, they were up 5-3, but were not able to close out the set. Southwood won the next 4 games in a row, and the Apaches lost the second set 5-7. Coach Ford shared, “This was definitely not the outcome we wanted at this position. Abbi and Maddie have been a strong combination for us this year, but unfortunately, it just wasn’t their night. Although we’re losing Maddie to graduation, we are thrilled that Abbi will be returning to us next year. She really improved her game this season and will be a force to be reckoned with next season”. The second longest match of the night was at the 2 doubles position. Bridget Bailey and Emma Weaver won the first set in a dominant fashion, 6-3. However, they lost some of their momentum in the second set and fell 3-6. The third set was a back-and-forth battle, but the girls were not able to take control and finish out the match. The third set score was 4-6. Coach Ford shared, “Bridget and Emma have both played with multiple other double partners this season and were extremely flexible when we tried different lineup combinations. If this duo would have had more match experiences together, I think they would have been able to pull out the victory. Lucky for us, both of them will be returning next year and will both be important assets to the team”.