Chris Caporale, sports@wolfrivermedia.com
The Shawano Community High School girls tennis team did not advance any players to the WIAA Division 1 sectionals Monday, marking the end of the 2015 season for the Hawks.
Many of the flights were ranked in the bottom two of the nine competing teams, meaning they needed to play an extra game to get into the eight-team subsectional bracket in a split meet in Green Bay and De Pere.
Hannah Newmann, at No. 1 singles, won her first match of the day 6-3, 6-4, but lost 6-0, 6-0 to top-seeded Mei Fredeen of Green Bay Southwest.
Meghan Hoffman and Sara Hokenstad, who played at the No. 1 doubles, won the play-in game against Green Bay West 6-3, 6-0, before falling to the top-ranked duo of Mary Zakowski and Claire Rotherham from Notre Dame.
“A lot of them were playing girls who had beaten them earlier in the year, yet they didn’t let that deter them,” SCHS head coach Brian Beyer said. “They played hard, and they knew it was their last match of the year and they put forth their best effort.”
The longest match of the day went to Sydney Steinbock, whose 150-minute match with Antigo earned respect from many of the fans in the stands.
Shawano tied Green Bay West tied for last place at the meet.
Notre Dame sent six flights to subsectionals, including all but their No. 4 singles player, en route to 20 points and a first-place standing heading into Wednesday’s sectional at Manitowoc Lincoln.
Next year the Hawks will return five athletes from the varsity team, along with some up-and-coming JV players. Five members of the junior varsity team recorded varsity wins this season.
“I honestly look at next year and have no idea what my lineup is going to be,” Beyer said, “but that’s kind of the fun of it.”