By RICHIE HALL
NOBLESVILLE – Two Hamilton County girls tennis teams played each other Tuesday to open their seasons, and they were both glad to get on the courts for the first time this spring.
Noblesville hosted Fishers at the Noblesville East Middle School tennis facility, and the No. 8-ranked Tigers got a 4-1 dual meet victory. Fishers swept all three of the singles matches, winning all of them in straight sets.
“I got three real good singles players and they had no problems today, so that was good,” said Tigers coach Dave Heffern.
Fishers also won at No. 2 doubles, with Maddie Barron and Kirah Fuller getting a hard-fought 6-3, 6-4 victory. The Millers’ point came at No. 1 doubles, where Alli Maskew and Lina Hamashuk pulled out a three-set win, taking the third-set super tiebreak 10-5.
Both teams have been dealing with weather issues, which made it difficult to get practices in leading up to the first meets.
“We haven’t had a chance to really practice a lot,” said Heffern. “The nice days, we had our challenge matches and then we got our lineup set. We have six matches in five days, so we should hopefully improve in a short period of time here once we start playing matches.”
Noblesville coach Tim Samons said the weather and Spring Break have affected his team – “all we had time to do in practice was to get a lineup together,” he said. The Millers also have to play two tough teams out of the gate. After Fishers, Noblesville takes on No. 6 Zionsville on Thursday.
“I think we’ll fare pretty well after those two matches the rest of the season,” said Samons.
FISHERS 4, NOBLESVILLE 1
No. 1 singles: Mischa Briggs (F) def. Bella Duncan (N) 6-0, 6-1
No. 2 singles: Izzy Mokra (F) def. Allie Stamm (N) 6-0, 6-2
No. 3 singles: Caroline Ober (F) def. Josie Flinchum (N) 6-1, 6-2
No. 1 doubles: Alli Maskew and Lina Hamashuk (N) def. Emma Beehler and Cassie Maurer (F) 7-5, 3-6, 10-5
No. 2 doubles: Maddie Barron and Kirah Fuller (F) def. Sierra Leach and Cami Crist (N) 6-3, 6-4