Seymour head coach Sharon Wood knows Brooke Schafstall has the mental fortitude to stay in most tennis matches she competes in.
That was the story Tuesday night when Schafstall fell down 3-0 in the first set against Scottsburg’s Lyla Waskom. The two had some lengthy rallies early on in the match, and Waskom was coming away with a fair share of the points early on.
“Early on, she was making a lot of unforced errors that hurt her,” Wood said.
But then Schafstall started to turn it around. She started lifting the ball and placing it where she wanted it to go, and the points started to come in flurries for her.
She came back and took the first set over Waskom 6-4.
“We knew at that point, she was going to be fine,” Wood said.
Schafstall went on to win the second set 6-1 and secure the victory as well as the fifth and final point for her team to complete the 5-0 sweep over Scottsburg.
Sandy Cerino made quick work of her match at number two singles Tuesday, defeating Grace Routt 6-0, 6-2.
“A lot of top spin,” Cerino said of what was working for her. “And I worked a lot on staying up on my feet.”
Cerino knew she had to play strong Tuesday after the long three-set tiebreaker she played Monday night. Despite being fatigued, she was able to come away with the win.
Kirby Hill rounded out the singles victories for the Owls with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Oliva Fugate at No. 3 singles.
As for doubles, Wood was pleased with the improvements they made from Monday to Tuesday.
In one doubles, Avery Ragon and Mallory Moore beat Claire Routt and Brinley Soloe 6-1, 6-1, and in two doubles, Madalyn Baurle and Elise Hartung beat Melea Luttrell and Mia Collins 6-2, 6-1.
“Our doubles teams, both at one and two, started to put some easy volleys away, started to build their points together, so that’s really encouraging,” Wood said. “In doubles, there was huge strides and huge improvements.”
Going forward for doubles, Wood wants to focus on positioning. She wants the girls to be in the right spots and know where they should be.
As for singles, she wants the trio to hone in on their approach shots and knowing when is a good time to move up toward the net versus when it’s not.
“Just sort of keep building a game strategy versus just, ‘Yay, I hit the ball over the net,'” Wood said.
With the win, the Owls improve to 3-0 on the season with a match coming up against Columbus East on Thursday. It will be the team’s third match in four days.
“The team has been playing really good,” Cerino said. “We have a really good team for sectionals this year.”