Steamboat girls tennis defeats Durango, 4-3

By Luke Graham

Thursday, March 24, 2011

2011 Sailors girls tennis schedule

Playing outdoors for the first time all season, the Steamboat Springs High School girls tennis team narrowly snuck by Durango in Grand Junction on Thursday, picking up a 4-3 win. 

Steamboat got wins at No. 2 singles from Rachelle Steele-Cerone and at No. 3 singles from Claire Parsons. The No. 1 doubles team of Ali Diehl and Lauren Siegel and the No. 2 doubles team of Kaitie Breisch and Ellie Bender also won. 

“It was a lot closer than we expected,” coach John Aragon said. “Durango is much better than they have been in the past.” 

Although the score was close, the wins at singles and doubles were early in the match and had wrapped up the victory for Steamboat before most of the other players took the court. 

“This was our first time outdoors,” Aragon said. “I knew it was going to be a tough match. The outdoors took us by surprise. It was windy, then nice. But I’m glad we got that match in. Hopefully by (today) we play better outdoors.”

Today should be a real barometer of where the Sailors are. Starting at 8:15 a.m. Steamboat plays in the highly competitive Western Slope Open in Grand Junction. The tournament continues through Saturday. 

The tournament usually draws top competition from across the state. 

“I look at our girls and I think we have the ability to be in the top three or four,” Aragon said. “But we have to play better than we did (Thursday).” 

— To reach Luke Graham, call 970-871-4229 or email lgraham@SteamboatToday.com 

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