Blair High School tennis coach David Christensen said there were a lot of ups and downs Tuesday during the Bears' season-opening dual with Platteview.
The Trojans beat the home squad 4-1 at Stemmermann Park, sweeping three varsity doubles matches and going 1-1 in singles play.
“Need to learn how to start fast and not get down out of the gates,” Christensen said. “Clean up the mental mistakes and I believe we will be where we need to be.”
Angela Roehrs earned the Bears' lone varsity victory, knocking off Shehara Ariyarathna in No. 2 singles play. She won the match 8-4, while the Trojans' Mel Ostrander bested BHS' Hadyn Ferguson 8-5 in No. 1 Singles.
Together, though, Roehrs and Ferguson added an unscored doubles victory.
In the scored matchups, however, Platteview secured 8-1, 8-2 and 9-7 doubles victories. Blair's Lissy Spangler and Josie Kros put together the closest match at No. 3 doubles, while the No. 1 team of Ally Sullivan and Abby Leggott lost by seven and the No. 2 squad — Kayleia Chesson and Jo Inget — lost by six against formidable opposition.
Notably, the Bears' Hannah Heuton, Kros and Aubrey Bruck earned unscored singles match wins, while Hannah Gross fell just short — 8-5 — in her first matchup of the season.
Coach Christensen's team was scheduled to host Omaha Gross on Thursday and next competes 4 p.m. Tuesday against South Sioux City at Stemmermann Park.
