Tough week for Cardinal tennis
By John Dixon

Evan Black practices for an upcoming match. Photo contributed by Mary Black

The week of September 11-15, 2006 was a tough week for the high-flying ladies' tennis team at Cardinal Newman. On Tuesday, September 12, 2006, the Heathwood Hall Lady Highlanders beat the Lady Cardinals 6-3. Despite the fact this was the first team loss for the Lady Cards since a non- region match at the start of the 2004 season, there were some bright spots.

The doubles teams of Lauren Delphia/Tori August and Evan Black/Andrea Martin won hard fought matches by a slim margin. While the singles results were less than hoped for over all, Evan Black performed well to win in two sets over Lauren Glazer of Heathwood Hall. Coach Doug Snyder lamented that, "The Lady Cards dropped three very close third set tie-breakers in singles." Snyder also noted that, "The Highlanders had the advantage of already having a very tough match behind them (in their 5-4 loss to Hammond)."

The Lady Cardinals faced Hammond next on Thursday, September 14 with less than stellar results.

The Lady Skyhawks beat the Lady Cards 6-3 with a 4-2 edge in singles. Coach Snyder admitted, "This overall match could have gone either way, but Hammond simply outplayed us at the key match ups."

Once again Evan Black came through in a clutch, winning a three set singles match against Layna Plyner of Hammond. Lauren Delphia provided another bright spot with her two set victory over Alexis Kocher. The Lady Cardinals' doubles play was not as stong Thursday as it was earlier in the week, but Sami August and Erika Houghtaling managed to provide the Lady Cards' lone doubles win. Following the two losses last week, the Lady Cardinals' record stands at 4-2 for the season.

What does Coach Snyder think of their chances of a three-peat are now? He says, "The transition for the Lady Cards in replacing the #1 and #4 players from last year (due to graduation and relocating) is going to be a work in progress. There is no doubt that Hammond and Heathwood Hall are the top two varsity girls teams in SCISA Division 3A. The Lady Cards aren't that far behind both of them, and the SCISA 3A playoffs in October should be very interesting."