by Devan Matthews

Correspondent

The Tallmadge girls tennis team had a warm-up match before it could focus on a Division II sectional tournament.

The Lady Blue Devils battled Akron Firestone Sept. 29, knocking off the Falcons by the score of 4-1.

With the victory, Tallmadge improved its overall record on the season to 10-5.

Freshman Kelsey Blatt won at second singles for the Lady Blue Devils, recording a 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 triumph.

"[Copley] had a very good player at second singles and Kelsey had to come back to take the third game," said Tallmadge head coach Russell Wormald. "That was the longest match of the day. It lasted well over two hours."

At third singles, senior Stacy Billow prevailed by the score of 7-5, 6-0. She trailed 5-2 in the first set but rallied to win. She then cruised in the second set.

The Lady Blue Devils also cruised to victory in both doubles matches.

"I knew Copley had three excellent singles players, but I also knew their doubles teams weren't as strong as we're used to seeing," said Wormald.

Tallmadge's first doubles unit of junior Kara Hovest and freshman Alex James blanked their opponent, 6-0, 6-0. In addition, the second doubles tandem of seniors Amanda Clark and Amber Zito recorded a 6-1, 6-0 win.

Although Tallmadge junior Sheila Long lost 6-1, 6-0 at first singles, she played one of her better matches of the season.

"That score is not indicative of how she played," said Wormald. "Overall, she probably played as strong a match as she's played all season, even better than in some of the matches she won. The girl she played is very talented."

Wormald lauded his players for their performance in notching the victory.

"We knew we would be in good shape at doubles, but for a while there, we didn't know if we would win the match," he said. "There were some tense moments, but the girls handled it well."

The sectional tournament was held in two locations in Canton Oct. 2.

The singles matches were contested at Weis Park on 25th Street, while the doubles matches were scheduled at the stadium courts near the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Weather permitting, of course.

Results were not available at press time.

Long had a first-round bye at first singles. She was slated to play the winner of St. Thomas Aquinas and Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary matchup.

Blatt faced a first-round opponent from Marlington. If she was victorious, she advanced against either a St. Vincent-St. Mary or Orrville opponent.

Billow's opening-round contest was against a player from Kidron Central Christian.

Hovest and James opened with Canton Central Catholic, while Clark and Zito faced Orrville in the opening round.

According to Wormald, advancing to the district tournament is not going to be easy.

"We have people who have the opportunity to win a couple of rounds, but sooner or later, they're going to face a very tough team or individual," he said. "They're going to have to play their best tennis of the season to beat them. [Akron Archbishop] Hoban is bringing some high-quality players and so are Marlington, Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary and Kidron Central Christian.

Those are just some of the ones off the top of my head."

Tallmadge was scheduled to is scheduled to wrap up the regular season with a home match against Cuyahoga Falls Oct. 6 at 4 p.m.

E-mail: faceto@recordpub.com

Phone: 330-686-3914