Rain Delay Causes Late Night Tennis for Lady Bulldogs

It was a late night for the Milbank girls’ tennis team on Friday, August 24. Rain delayed play for two hours. The Lady Bulldogs took to the courts against Marshall, Minnesota at 5 p.m. and left the courts at about 10 p.m. after defeating both Marshall and LQPV/DB.

“It’s the first time during the regular season we’ve had to play under the lights for over an hour,” said Coach Jim Dahl. “Another first was to record our third shut-out in a season. We hadn’t accomplished that before, and we are only one third of the way into the season. We haven’t been shut out yet, either. So, there have been many positives to this point.”

The team pushed their record to over 500 at 4-3. Dahl said, “It’s also nice to get a sweep in a triangular. As a team, we played average at best versus Marshall to narrowly get past them 5 – 4. I was impressed by the girls’ improved consistency against LQPV/DB – so many quality plays in both singles and doubles. They beat Marshall handily, so to sweep LQPV/DB took a lot of consistency and confidence.”

Halli Essington went unchallenged in the triangular at 4-0. Rhianna Welberg was also 4-0. She accomplished a huge tie-break victory at No. 3 singles against Marshall to propel the team to a narrow win. Rhianna Cantine, Hattie Muellenbach, Jenna Johnson, and Alexis Ninneman were all triple winners.

Bulldog Tennis heads to Aberdeen Tuesday, August 28, to play Central at 1 p.m. and Roncalli at 3:30 p.m.