Girls’ tennis: Battle-hardened warriors prevail – Brainerd Dispatch

BRAINERD – “Let’s go.”

The more often you hear this sentence from the mouth of senior team captain Ericah Folden on the tennis courts of Brainerd High School, the better the Brainerd Warriors are doing.

On Tuesday, August 27, the team heard “Let’s go” just enough to earn a 4-3 Central Lakes Conference victory over the Alexandria Cardinals.

“We’d like to hear that more often and we’d like to hear it from everybody,” Warriors head coach Garrett Goeden said. “I understand not everybody has a loud personality and wants to be seen. That’s not for everybody, but the players that do that, they like to communicate and use their voice – use it. That’s a big part of our core values ​​as a program – positive energy. If you’re going to use your voice to demonstrate that in a positive way, please use your voice. That’s what we’re trying to encourage.”

Folden didn’t want to say it was her line of the year, but she understands the impact it has on her teammates.

“That gets us fired up, I guess,” she said. “I don’t know. After we win a point, especially when we’re behind or we’ve lost energy or the momentum isn’t in our favor, it’s ‘let’s go. We’ve done it and let’s get the momentum back in our favor.'”

Folden and her No. 1 doubles partner Leah Soukup needed a pick-me-up after losing the second set. The duo rebounded to win the third set 6-4, securing the victory for the Warriors.

“We were definitely mentally frustrated,” Folden said. “It affected our performance on the field. Honestly, the coach kept coming to us and telling us to keep going. When you come off the bench, you’re a brand new team and we’re going to get our energy back like we had before.”

The Folden-Soukup duo improved their season record to 3-1. The No. 2 doubles pair Rebekah Soukup-Jessica Cole improved their record to 3-0 with a straight-set win. Again they left the court first with a quick 6-1, 6-4 victory.

Brooke Mulholland picked up a win at No. 2 singles on the next court. Mulholland improved to 4-0, 6-4, 6-1. Brainerd got another win from freshman Taruyn Mithun to take a 3-1 lead with three games to go. Those last three games all went to third sets.

“It’s really exciting,” Folden said. “Maybe I would have been a little nervous freshman year, but I’ve been playing varsity doubles for four years, so I have experience in big matches. I know nervousness is the opposite of what you want to feel. You just have to keep being excited and have that good energy, but the most important thing is to be confident.”

Steve Kohls/Brainerd Dispatch

This is the first season for the Folden-Leah Soukup pairing. Folden has been paired with graduate Claire Erdahl for the past two seasons. The two qualified together for the Class 2A singles tournament last season. Leah Soukup played primarily with her sister last year.

“It was a different experience and an adjustment,” Folden said. “Claire and I were obviously really good partners and friends and it took a little while playing with Leah to get used to our movements together and to find the chemistry between us. We’re starting to harmonize and we’re starting to work together. We understand each other. We’ve become much closer off the court as well. I enjoy playing with her.”

Folden said the most difficult part of the new partnership was for Soukup to adjust to Folden’s no-nonsense personality.

“Claire and I were comfortable and able to tell each other, ‘Hey, that wasn’t good.’ Leah and I just have to keep getting closer,” Folden said. “She can’t be nervous around me. At the end of the day, I’m just a tennis player and I make a lot of mistakes.”

Goeden, a new head coach of the girls program, appreciates having an experienced captain like Folden. He said she sets the tone for the team and her doubles partner. That’s also why players in matches that ended early cheered on their teammates as they battled in those third sets.

Steve Kohls/Brainerd Dispatch

“We have a great camaraderie,” said Goeden. “I think that applies to both teams. You can just feel it when you’re at this game. There was a lot of chatting and there was just positive cheering. We had support and everyone supported each other on all courts. It’s a great feeling when you support each other in difficult moments.”

Reese Glynn suffered a three-set loss in No. 4 singles and Kamryn Kraemer lost to Adi Stevenson in No. 1 singles 7-5, 6-3.

The No. 3 doubles team of Piper Grillo-Lily Knoepke forced a third set thanks to a 7-6 (7-4) win in the second set, but dropped the match. “First of all, Alexandria came here to play,” Goeden said. “I was very impressed. They’re doing a great job down there. The program looks really strong, but our girls showed up anyway. The moment was promising and we didn’t let that stop us. A lot of that is thanks to the last few years where they’ve been very competitive. They’ve seen a lot of close games. A lot of these players have been part of a lot of close games. They’ve experienced that as teammates and as players. They were ready for it and they enjoyed the moment.”

Reach JEREMY MILLSOP at 218-855-5856 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jeremymillsop.