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October 20, 2009

Slama breezes into Section 2A semifinals

By Jim Rueda

ST PETER — A year ago, when Blue Earth Area’s No. 1 singles player Emily Slama had to make the decision on whether to play singles or doubles in the Section 2A girls tennis tournament, she opted for doubles.

This year, a more confident Slama decided to stick with singles, and so far, it looks like a pretty good choice as the junior won twice Monday to reach the semifinals of the tournament at Swanson Tennis Center.

“I felt my game was strong enough this year that I could try it,” Slama said between matches. “One of my goals this year was to go undefeated in the conference, and I accomplished that. I just felt it was time to stay with singles.”

Slama has been Blue Earth Area’s top singles player for the last three seasons. Her success in the sport surprised no one as she has an older brother and sister — Tim and Amy — who both starred in the program and went on to play collegiately at St. Thomas.

“I guess I grew up around the tennis courts,” she said. “My brother and sister were my first coaches so I was pretty young when I started. My parents weren’t players until us kids got involved; now they play a little bit, too.”

Slama, the No. 2 seed in the competition, opened Monday’s play with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Megan Kelly of Le Center-Cleveland/Montgomery-Lonsdale. She followed with a 6-1, 6-1 quarterfinal win over Kayla Trocke of Sibley East.

The No. 1 seed, Elena Almici of Sibley East, took a similar path to the finals. She downed Annika Johnson of BEA 6-0, 6-1 in her first match and defeated St. Peter’s Sidney Dirks 6-1, 6-4 in the quarterfinals.

No. 3 seed Danni Collins of Waseca has also reached the semifinals. She had straight-set wins over Kendra Wolf of Le Sueur-Henderson and Ali Ramsley of United South Central.

Collins’ teammate, Briee Mercier, is unseeded in the tournament yet she made the final four by winning three matches Monday. She won a 6-0, 6-0 win over Josie Walters of Maple River in a play-in match, followed with a marathon 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over No. 4 seed Maura Flaherty of Belle Plaine in Round 2. She finished with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over No. 5 seed Erin Seaver of Le Sueur-Henderson in the quarterfinals.

In today’s semifinals, Mercier will meet Almici and Collins will take on Slama.

In Monday’s doubles, Nos. 1, 2 and 4 seeds reached the semifinals, but the third seed was eliminated.

The Maple River duo of Mandi Stencel and Sara Anderson, the No. 1 seed who have qualified for state the past two years, dropped just three total games in four sets while winning twice.

On the opposite end of the bracket, No. 2 seed Lexi Ulfers and Hannah Flor of Waseca were also straight-set winners in two matches. The No. 4 seeded team of Bailey Plonske and Cassie Schultz from Le Sueur-Henderson reached the semifinals with a 7-5, 6-1 over Maple River’s Robin Staloch and Megan Chicos and a 6-2, 6-3 decision over Sibley East’s Ashley Thomes and Courtney Nienaber.

The surprise team in the doubles semifinals is Stephanie Smith and Tabitha Woitas from Maple River. The No. 6-seeded team downed Katie Hanson and Rachel Thompson of St. Peter 6-3, 6-0 and then upset No. 3 seed Cam Christian and Brianna Schroeder of USC 6-2, 7-6 (9-7).

In today’s doubles semifinals, Stencel-Anderson meets Plonske-Schultz, and Smith-Woitas takes on Ulfers-Flor. The tournament resumes today at approximately 3 p.m. at the Swanson Tennis Center.

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