When Crawfordsville girls tennis needed their senior duo of Elyse Widmer and Mia Wagner to step up, the pair answered the call. Wednesday CHS hosted Fountain Central in a battle of the top two tennis teams in the area. With the match hanging in the balance tied at 2-2 Widmer and Wagner came through to clinch the 3-2 win for the Athenians.
After falling in the first set to Fountain Central’s Marylee Muniz and Hannah Prickett 5-7, they bounced back for a three set win 5-7, 6-2, 6-1.
“If they do split sets which is rare, I know that our one doubles team isn’t going to back down,” Crawfordsville coach Kara Amundson said of her senior duo. “I always feel like we’re going to have a pretty good shot with them.”
The other two wins for the Athenians came from Emily Weliver at three singles as she defeated the Mustangs Josie Harshbarger 6-4, 6-1 and the two doubles team of Ali Brown and Olivia Fichter 6-2, 6-3.
For the Mustangs their pair of wins came from the their top two singles spots. Haley Webb defeated Crawfordsville’s Sam Rohr 6-2, 6-0 at one singles and Alydia Mellady took care of Reagan Cox 6-2, 6-2 at two singles.
Longtime Mustang coach David Kight noted how the one doubles match was extremely competitive and it’s something his duo can grow from.
“Crawfordsville did a nice job of changing how the match was played,” Kight said. “In the first set we were able to drive the ball and keeping them deep and away from the net. In the second and third set they took the air out of the ball a little bit. (Elyse) Widmer does a very good job at the net for them and she was able to take over at the net in those final two sets. They do a good job of recognizing patterns against us. I wasn’t upset with how it went because they 6-0, 6-0’d us last year when these same four girls played at two doubles.”
Last year when these two teams squared off at Fountain Central it was the Mustangs who came away with a 3-2 win. This time it was the Athenians coming out on top in a narrow win and Amundson added how the close match experience against another great team in FC will only benefit her girls as well.
“They (Fountain Central) really challenge our players all the way throughout their lineup,” she said. “This was a very good matchup for us to test ourselves against. Their one singles gave Sam a real run for her money. It will only make us better in the long run playing this type of competition.”
Kight also applauded the Athenians and just like Amundson knows his young team will only get better from playing Cville.
“Crawfordsville is on our schedule for a reason,” Kight said. “They’re always a good test for us. We like playing them because it’s going to make our entire program better. Tonight was a night where we still got better across the board even in a loss.”
Crawfordsville will be back on the courts on Thursday when they take on Harrison.
Fountain Central will stay extremely busy in the season’s final weeks. They’ll conclude their match vs Greencastle that got postponed at North Montgomery on Wednesday. Next week they’ll play three straight days before hosting the WRC Tournament next Saturday.
“We won’t have another practice for two weeks because of how much we’re playing,” Kight said. “We’re in a dead sprint to the finish right now. Now is a chance for us to get into a good rhythm and play our best tennis.”
