Girls Tennis: Tigers runner-up at Mound Doubles

Beth (above) and Lindsey Fairchild (below) went 2-0 at Mound Doubles Invite

Lindsey Fairchild (photo by J. Lindquist)

Farmington came within a point of defending its Mounds Doubles Invitational title, falling to Mound-Westonka 9-8 for the top spot. The third team in the mix, Bloomington Kennedy, scored one point.

The unique format featured doubles play in six flights with each team going up against the other two. The Tigers swept Kennedy 6-0 but went 2-4 against Mound.

"Fittingly it came down to the final match on the the court where we lost a tight 4-6, 4-6 match," Farmington coach Jack Olwell said.

Two Tiger tandems finished the day unbeaten to account for half of Farmington's pint total. Lindsey and Beth Fairchild went a perfect 2-0 in the second flight as did Molly Rudorfer and Kayle Rees at the No. 4 slot.

The other four Tiger pairings each finished 1-1; No. 1 Megan Stivers and Ryan Jara; No. 3 Callie Olmscheid and Jessie Novotny; No. 5 Sam Gallagher and Hannah Toomey and No. 6 Becky Genzler and Bridget Lensing.

"Of the five sudden games with Mound, they won four of them," Olwell said, "and that was more than enough to close the deal...Still, it was exciting and our level of play was high and our strokes crisp."

The Tigers open dual meet play Wednesday with a road match with Bloomington Jefferson followed by a dual at Faribault on Thursday. Friday they host a four-team tournament at the Boeckman Middle School courts.