Trinity Lutheran’s Sarah Lemming and Regan Cain came up with wins at No. 1 and No. 2 singles, but none of the other Cougars were able to win a set and Trinity’s tennis team lost 3-2 to Hauser at home Friday afternoon.

The match was originally scheduled to be played Thursday but was postponed because of the threat of rain.

On Friday the players had to battle a strong wind that was blowing from north to south.

“The wind was a major factor in today’s match,” Cougars coach Julie Lemming said.  “The adjustment level was extremely difficult, especially on this (south) side of the net.

“It was just a constant adjustment. For our older players they’re aware of this. Our younger players have gotten a lot more practice with that this season. But still it’s one of those skills that does take some time.”

Coach Lemming said she felt the match could have gone either way.

“I felt we were pretty evenly matched with Hauser, but it just didn’t happen today. We lost two practices to rain this week, and one of our players did comment that she felt like that impacted her performance.

“It’s always a toss-up. In the spring you never know when you’re trying to conduct a match around practices. Consistency with practice is certainly key to capitalizing on a win.”

Sarah Lemming dominated Andie Clark 6-0, 6-1 at one singles, while Cain defeated Bella Kilps 6-1, 7-5 at No. 2.

“They played well,” Coach Lemming said. “No. 1 singles only lost one game. We advised her to take advantage of this opportunity to practice some of the skills that we’ve been wanting her to pursue this season, and we saw her do that.

“She was a lot more aggressive. Her skill set, her strategy, her mental game is in place. It’s her aggression that we’ve been trying to get her to work on, and she was able to take that risk today and was able to come out with a very comfortable win.”

Lemming said Cain started out strong then seemed to take her foot off the gas in the second set.

“I was just saying Thursday that (Cain) is kind of our measuring stick as to how we’re going to do if the outcome is close. She had a pretty solid first set, but then she started to lose her mental balance in the second set.

“Her opponent regrouped and also got a couple of lucky off-of-the-net points. Maybe the wind was a factor, it’s hard to say. But that did absolutely affect her mentally. We called her over and said ‘let’s get this out in the open.’

“We told her that we knew that she was feeling mentally rattled, and to bring it to the surface and let it go. We told her that she had to visualize the outcome, and she was able to pull it off.  She did finish strong.”

Trinity’s Drew Hubbard dropped a 6-1, 6-2 match to Kaitlynn Everroad at No. 3 singles. Trinity’s Katelyn Mensendiek and Kiley Zabel fell 6-4, 6-3 to Aunahz Wasil and Emily Harden at No. 1 doubles, and Rebekah Brown and Erin Enzinger were beaten 6-2, 6-0 by Gabby Johns and Charlie Clark at No. 2 doubles.

“We were proud of everyone,” Lemming said.

Trinity (3-5) will play at Christian Academy Tuesday and at Edinburgh Thursday.

The Southwestern (Hanover) Tournament that was rained out April 24 has been rescheduled for May. 15.