CHS Girls Tennis Squeaks Out Tough Win in Home Opener Versus Odessa

On a blistering hot Monday evening, the Lady Hornet netters hosted the Odessa Lady Bulldogs for their season’s home opener. Only a portion of the team was able to play because Odessa fielded a small team, but it was a highly competitive night on every court. CHS started off slow, dropping their #2 and #3 doubles matches, but veterans Lexy Smith and Lydia Bonderer handled business quickly on the #1 doubles court for the Lady Hornets. Then, the night shifted over to singles play, which saw several matches go over an hour long after already playing for so long in the heat during doubles.

Junior Lexy Smith battled her heart out against a solid #1 hitter for Odessa. At one point, she found herself down by multiple games, but as Smith always does, she battled back to force a tiebreak. Unfortunately, she went on to lose the tiebreak 7-9, but her effort was tremendous. Sophomore Isabel Nagel also saw a tough match on her court where she battled through long rallies but eventually fell in singles also. However, the 3-6 players for Chillicothe stepped up when their team needed them most and all won their singles’ matches in resounding fashion. Senior Lydia Bonderer faced a Lady Bulldog who was very consistent, but Bonderer outlasted her game after game. On court 4, fellow senior Anya Moore also came out strong and blasted through her singles match with confidence. Then, newcomers freshman London Douglas and sophomore Jocelynn Albrecht stepped on as the final two matches of the night. They both came out with a resounding start led by strong serving and clinched the win for Chillicothe 5-4 on the night.

Results were as follows:

Smith & Bonderer beat Seals & Schwartze 8-2

Nagel & Albrecht lost to May & Davis 6-8

Moore & Douglas lost to Walter & Walters 3-8

Smith lost to Seals 8-8 TB 7-9

Nagel lost to May 4-8

Bonderer beat Walter 8-3

Moore beat Walters 8-1

Douglas beat Davis 8-3

Albrecht beat Schwartze 8-2