By Staff
Staff Reports
Coach Michelle Elks couldn’t have been much more pleased with her team. She watched her Washington Pam Pack tennis team open conference play in impressive fashion, taking an 8-1 win over West Carteret on Tuesday.
The Pack (3-0, 1-0) got wins in singles and doubles from Beth Batchelor, Hayley Stowe, Tierra Locklear and D’Lorah Pierce.
“Tierra used aggressive play in singles and doubles today and really showed how well she can play,” Elks said. “Tierra is a great mover and she is intimidating to play. She has been working hard on her mental focus, and used that today to win a tough singles match and hold on for a win in doubles with Janie Page.”
Washington won five of the six singles matches. Batchelor earned a 6-2, 6-3 win over Hali Viadelis at No. 1, Stowe topped Reid Getty 6-2, 6-3 at No. 2, Locklear cruised past Mary Ann Varner 6-0, 6-2 at No. 4, Mary Margaret Fowle topped Kelly Metcalf 6-3, 6-4 at No. 5 and Pierce posted a 6-0, 6-3 victory over Sarah Cummings at No. 6.
“Mary Margaret played her best match of the season today,” Elks said.
The only blemish came at No. 3, but not without a fight. Janie Page came back from losing 6-0 in the first set and trailing 4-1 in the second to even the match with a 7-5 nod. However, Caroline Henry got the win with a 10-8 nod in the tiebreaker.
The No. 1 doubles tandem of Batchelor/Stowe beat Viadelis/Getty 8-4, Page/Locklear knocked off Henry/Varner 9-7 at No. 2 and Pierce/Shannon Niederhauser disposed of Metcalf/Cummings 8-3 at No. 3.
Winning exhibition matches were Paige Ingalls, Kimberlyn Jones, Samara Romero and Erin Stowe.
The Pack travels to Jacksonville on Thursday.