Girls tennis: Golden Eagles, University’s Buttrick off to good starts

The REPORTER

The Guerin Catholic girls tennis team won an all-county dual meet at University 4-1 on Wednesday.

Buttrick

The No. 13-ranked Golden Eagles got all four of their wins in straight sets. The No. 1 doubles team of juniors Anna Kolb and Katie Kolb, who qualified for the individual doubles tournament last year, won their match 6-1, 6-0.

Guerin Catholic also got 6-1, 6-0 victories from No. 2 singles Grace Docktor and No. 3 singles Maddy Hood, a freshman. The Golden Eagles’ No. 2 doubles team, seniors Ella Hood and Anna Ellery were 6-0, 6-2 winners.

The Trailblazers’ win came from junior Laurel Buttrick, who took her match 6-0, 6-0. Buttrick is unbeaten for the season.

Guerin Catholic is 3-1 for the season, with 5-0 wins over No. 25 North Central and Plainfield and a 5-0 loss to No. 1 Carmel.

“We’re a young team,” said GC coach Becky Ragsdale. “Every day we work hard at practice and I see the improvement every day.”

This is Ragsdale’s eighth season coaching the Golden Eagles, and she said the team’s growth has been “exponential.” Guerin Catholic had 33 players on the team in Ragsdale’s first year, and now there are over 90 girls on the team. Ragsdale said that’s a testament to what a success the program is.

“We do a lot of things outside just playing on the tennis court,” said Ragsdale. “We do a lot of service projects for our community. Our kids and our parents are totally supportive of that. Our administration is supportive of that.”

Ragsdale also credited her assistant coaches, saying she has “the best staff in the state of Indiana.”

“The fact that these guys want to come back every year, I think it says something about what we’re doing,” said Ragsdale.