Minot Ryan edges Midgets

• Steph Wallace

Press Photo by Chris Aarhus Dickinson High No. 2 singles player Steph Wallace gets ready to return the ball to Minot Ryan’s Jordan Halseth in their West Region tennis match Saturday at the DHS tennis courts.

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Things didn’t appear so bad when the Dickinson girls tennis team went into doubles action up 4-2 against Minot Ryan on Saturday.

Then, the bottom dropped out.

Dickinson High lost all three doubles matches, falling 5-4 to Minot Ryan in a heartbreaker at the Dickinson High tennis courts.

“We were doing good heading into doubles. … We just can’t seal the deal,” Dickinson coach Kristal Fields said. “We talked about it after the match. The biggest struggle is the mental aspect.”

The match came down to No. 1 doubles where Rachael Kelly and Krista Padgett were battling against Minot Ryan’s Sarah Massey and Anzley Harmon. Kelly and Padgett took the first set, but fell in the final two, 6-3, and 6-4.

“We’ve got to figure out what we want and how to get it,” Fields said.

Kelly downed Massey 6-1, 6-3 at No. 1 singles and Dickinson No. 2 Steph Wallace took care of Jordan Halseth 6-4, 6-3. Dickinson No. 3 singles player Brittany Jalbert was also a winner, beating Anna Jastrzembski 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 and Brooke Lietzke beat McKenzie Berg 6-0, 6-0 at No. 6 singles.

The Midgets were shorthanded, missing three of their top six singles players, including their top two. Fields said the Midgets need to buckle down as they host Minot High on Tuesday.

“We have all this talent and we can’t seem to put anything together to get a win,” Fields said. “We get close, just not enough to get over the hump.”

Singles: No. 1, Rachael Kelly, D, def. Sarah Massey 6-1, 6-3. No. 2, Steph Wallace, D, def. Jordan Halseth, 6-4, 6-3. No. 3, Brittany Jalbert, D, def. Anna Jastrzembski, 6-4, 3-6, 6-2. No. 4, Anzley Harom, MR, def. Krista Padgett, 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 6-4. No. 5, Tia Presley, MR, def. Clarissa Hutmacher, 6-4, 6-2. No. 6, Brooke Lietzke, D, def. McKenzie Berg, 6-0, 6-0.

Doubles: No. 1, Massey-Harmon def. Kelly-Padgett, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. No. 2, Halseth-Presley def. Wallace-Jalbert, 6-4, 6-4. No. 3, Jastzembski-Berg def. Hutmacher-Lietzke, 6-2, 6-2.

Tags: sports, preps, dickinson, high, midgets