Bennington swept 10 tennis matches against Blair High School on Thursday at Stemmermann Park.
Bears Tailyn Anderson, and the doubles team of Leah Chance and Shelby Wolff, had the closest bouts of the official 5-0 dual loss, falling by identical 8-3 scores. Ana Dasa lost an 8-2 match, too, while Abi Lundberg, Ally Sullivan and Annemarie Proksel dropped 8-1 matches to the Badgers as well.
The Badgers also toppled Fiene Bakker and Roslyn Solano, 8-0.
In the end, though, three BHS seniors — Bakker, Dasa and Proksel — still talked positively of the lessons learned against tough opponents and their progress this season.
“Every game, I think I'm improving a little,” Dasa said.
Proksel noted a specific aspect of her skills when asked how she's improved.
“Backhands,” the senior said, explaining how she last played tennis as a sophomore before this season. “I would go over the fence (with them).”
She had no such trouble Thursday.
Bakker, meanwhile, said she's positive throughout even tough matches, reminding herself how tennis is “still a game.” In it, she's hitting the ball at a higher level.
“When I am returning a ball, my form is much better than the beginning of the season,” the foreign exchange student from the Netherlands said.
Bakker still feels her hand-eye coordination can improve, though.
As mentioned, Dasa believes improvement can come every match — even if Bennington is winning those matches handily. As a result, coach David Christensen's Bears are playing better now than at the start of the spring campaign.
“Everyone has greatly improved from the beginning of the season, learning from more-experienced players that we play,” Dasa explained. “We just take some key points or traits away from them, and try to incorporate them into our own gameplay.”
Overall, life on the tennis squad has been an enjoyable experience, Proksel said.
“All of my friends are playing with me, so even though it's not a great season for me, points-wise, it's still really fun to play and just get out there,” she noted.
Blair was set to compete Monday against Ralston and today plays at Waverly in varsity competition. The Bears are back home 3 p.m. Wednesday, though, against Cornerstone Christian.
