Rochester girls tennis gets rare sweep of Peru in TRC opener

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Rylee Clevenger

The Peru girls tennis team is a three-time defending sectional champion. They have won 21 sectional titles in its history.

And they have never lost to Rochester since joining the Three Rivers Conference in 2015.

Rochester showed the standard bearer of TRC success that they might like to be held in the upper echelon after beating the Lady Tigers 5-0 at the RHS courts Tuesday in their conference opener.

Rochester won all five matches in straight sets, and Rylee Clevenger was particularly dominant at No. 3 singles, beating Emma Thompson 6-0, 6-0 one night after yielding only two games in the last two sets of her win over Triton’s Cheyenne Hawley.

Other singles winners included Ella McCarter, who beat Jayce Boswell 6-1, 6-2 at No. 2; and Taylor Howard, who won a baseline battle with Peru’s Kaelyn Edwards 6-4, 6-3 at No. 2.

In the doubles matches, Audrey Bolinger and Chloe Nichols handled Addie Butt and Madilyn Clark 6-1, 6-1 at No. 1, and Sophie McCall and new partner Vivian Miller knocked off Sophia Greer and Anna Roush 6-4, 7-5 at No. 2.

Rochester is 5-2 overall.

“It’s a great feeling,” Rochester coach Adrian Paulik, a 2013 Rochester grad, said. “I never beat Peru. It’s a great feeling honestly.”

The Lady Zs were coming off a 4-1 loss to Triton on Monday.

“I definitely think it was important as far as boosting the girls’ confidence level,” Paulik said. “That plays a huge part in how they play, so I think we, as of right now going into tomorrow’s match (against Whitko), they had at least that to hold onto. … I think we needed that for sure.”

Boswell’s strategy against McCarter appeared to be to hit the ball deep in the corners and force McCarter to run.

“We did a lot of skill-set work with Ella right when we were warming up for the match as far as placement, being quick at the net and being on her toes and being able to cut,” Paulik said. “So Peru, they are really good at cutting on their forehands mostly, so we kind of worked with Ella on that, and I feel like she was able to pick up on that and work around that to her advantage.”

Edwards was the first left-handed opponent Howard said she had ever played.

“I didn’t notice anything different really,” Howard said. “Maybe her forehands were a little different because they were going straight instead of crosscourt.”

Howard, a senior, is playing singles for the first time this year. She played doubles with the now-graduated Elizabeth Weaver last year.

“A lot of running,” Howard said when asked about the adjustment. “Can’t stand still. And you can’t rely on anyone else, so you just have to push yourself.”

Paulik said Clevenger’s comeback against Triton on Monday might have given her momentum for Tuesday as she continued to pressure Thompson with her groundstrokes.

“I think that put a fire under her,” Paulik said. “She plays like I know she knows how to play. She just had a really good night overall.”

Paulik also praised the confidence and communication levels that McCall and Miller displayed in pulling out their match.

“Sophie played really well at the net, which in the past she’s been a little intimidated by that area, but tonight I felt like she did great, and their placement all around was just fabulous,” Paulik said. “So I thought they worked really well as a team.”

Bolinger and Nichols bounced back after suffering their first loss of the season to Triton.

“They as well communicated great tonight,” Paulik said. “I mean, they do every time. They’re both just talkers, which is a huge benefit in tennis. But I think that being able to find their opponents’ weakness, which they said that they did, and place it where they needed to and then also be ready at the net and be able to back up one another when one wasn’t available for the return.”

Results: Rochester 5, Peru 0

Singles

Ella McCarter (RHS) def. Jayce Boswell (PERU), 6-1, 6-2

Taylor Howard (RHS) def. Kaelyn Edwards (PERU), 6-4, 6-3

Rylee Clevenger (RHS) def. Emma Thompson (PERU), 6-0, 6-0

Doubles

Audrey Bolinger-Chloe Nichols (RHS) def. Addie Butt-Madilyn Clark (PERU), 6-1, 6-1

Sophie McCall-Vivian Miller (RHS) def. Sophia Greer-Anna Roush (PERU), 6-4, 7-5