By Tom Schardin, Staff Writer

The Prior Lake girls tennis team stayed at the .500 mark earning a split in two matches against Lake Conference teams.

The Lakers won three of four singles matches against Bloomington Jefferson on Aug. 26, but it wasn’t enough in a 4-3 loss.

The Lakers (3-3 overall) went into the match on the heels of a 5-2 victory over Burnsville on Aug. 22, also winning three of four in singles.

Lakers coach Corey Soukup said Jefferson outplayed his doubles teams in all areas, so it was tough loss to endure considering the match was there for the taking.

“Our singles played well, but we can’t rely on them to get four wins needed in a match,” said Soukup. “We have talked about the importance of solid doubles play and needing wins from them for the team to be successful.

“We will just continue to work hard and learn from each and every match on what else can be done to improve,” added Soukup. “Overall, we have seen much improved play from last year.”

The Lakers have already won more matches than it did all of last fall when they went 2-16 overall (0-7 in the Missota Conference).

Winning for the Lakers in the loss to Jefferson was junior Kristen Tusa at No. 2 singles (6-4, 6-0), ninth-grader Caitlyn Gengler at the No. 3 spot (6-1, 6-1) and eighth-grader Savannah Peterson at fourth singles (6-1, 6-1).

In doubles, the No. 2 team of ninth-grader Alex Fasking and sophomore Bailey Freer lost a tough battle in three sets (4-6, 6-2, 6-2).

Against Burnsville, five of the seven matches went three sets, so the match was a little closer than the score suggests.

Senior Amanda Bigby won at No. 1 singles for the Lakers (6-1, 5-7, 6-3), while Tusa won at the second spot (6-0, 6-1) and Gengler won at third singles (7-5, 2-6, 6-4).

In doubles, the Lakers’ wins came from the No. 1 team of sophomore Madison Skalecki and Fasking (6-3, 2-6, 6-2) and the No. 2 team of juniors Leah Peterson and Brittany Jaderston (6-3, 7-6).

“Burnsville was a terrific close match,” said Soukup.  “Our girls played tough and were able to get going again in the third set to get the wins we needed. It can be difficult to get the momentum going again after losing the second set, but we were able to refocus and come out on top in three of the third-set matches.

“One of the question marks I had this season was how would we respond to close matches,” added Soukup. “Last year was a year to gain experience in match play. We will have many more close matches this year, and (the Burnsville) match helps us to believe that we win those close ones.”

The Prior Lake Invitational will be held on Thursday, Aug. 28 starting at noon .The Lakers will face another Lake team on Friday, Aug. 29 when they play host to Rosemount at 10 a.m.

The conference season starts on Thursday, Sept. 4 when the Lakers play host to Holy Angels at 4:15 p.m.