Oct. 22—MINNEAPOLIS — Flocks of people roamed and viewed the scenes from various courts as the Litchfield and Montevideo girls tennis teams went toe-to-toe in the Class A state quarterfinals.
But, as the two teams battled it out at the Reed-Sweatt Family Tennis Center, so did another pair of teams Tuesday. Crookston and Providence Academy still had matches finishing up simultaneously just before the Litchfield and Montevideo match-up.
Then, with some final roars, the second-seeded Pirates defeated unseeded Providence Academy in a 5-2 victory to advance to the semifinals and await its opponent.
Litchfield would be Crookston’s eventual opponent.
The Dragons, who entered the state meet seeded third, earned a 5-2 win against unseeded Montevideo. Litchfield plays Crookston in the Class A semifinals at 10 a.m. Wednesday back at the Reed-Sweatt Family Tennis Center. Montevideo drops down to the consolation semifinals and faces the Lions at 6 p.m. Tuesday also at the Reed-Sweatt Family Tennis Center.
“It’s really exciting,” Litchfield senior Maya Wuotila said. “Our goal was just to get here, so this is the icing on top.
“Now that we’re here, we also want to keep pushing and try to get a good medal.”
Wuotila was one of the Dragons’ three singles players who were victorious. She won 6-3, 6-1 at No. 2 doubles against Montevideo’s Ashley Klaassen.
Isla Dille and Emma Wuotila, Maya’s younger sister, were the other two singles winners.
Dille, a sophomore at No. 1 singles, won 6-1, 6-1 against the Thunder Hawks’ Brooke Lindeman. Emma Wuotila, a sophomore at No. 3 singles, dropped her first set before taking the next two in a 2-6, 6-0, 6-2 victory against Montevideo’s Avery Albrecht.
“I knew as soon as Emma was ahead in the next set, she could push through,” Maya Wuotila said. “She can win when she’s down. She has such a good mindset that she can do that.”
Litchfield’s Nos. 1 and 2 doubles teams secured wins. Emma Knudsen and Molly Patten won 6-1, 1-6, 6-4 against the Thunder Hawks’ Gwyn Smiens and Lily Eisenlohr. Brynn Nagel and Tayah Damerow earned a 6-0, 6-2 win against Montevideo’s Megan Macziewski and Hallie Helgeson.
“First doubles, we needed them to win as well,” Maya Wuotila said. “Our girls fight hard.”
The Thunder Hawks got wins from Carlee Axford and the duo of Teagan Epema and Kylieann Johnson.
Axford, a senior at No. 4 singles, won 6-3, 6-0 against Litchfield’s Marcella Bruning. Epema and Johnson, a senior and junior at No. 3 doubles, earned a 6-4, 0-6, 1-0 (8) win against the Dragons’ Elly Woelfel and Emily Michels.
“The girls were absolutely thrilled to be here in the first place,” Montevideo head coach Trisha Suchanek said. “Litchfield is tough. … But we gave them a run for their money.”
Three of the seven matches went into a third set and Litchield secured wins in two of the three.
“Those were big deciding factors,” Suchanek said. “We pushed (the Dragons) and that’s what we came here to do — make some noise and we did that.”
Litchfield and Crookston matched up in the regular season and the Pirates won 4-3 on Sept. 21.
“I believe that we can win,” Maya Wuotila said.
The other Class A semifinal features top-seeded Blake against No. 4 Pine City. Blake beat Waseca 7-0 and Pine City edged No. 5 St. James 4-3. The Blake/Pine City winner meets the Litchfield/Crookston winner at about 4 p.m. Wednesday for the state championship. A third-place match takes place with the semifinal losers at 2 p.m. Wednesday.
