Hawks place fourth at conference tennis tourney

Sept. 28 Bay Conference Tournament The Hawks tennis team wrapped up the regular season at the Bay Conference Tournament in West De Pere. The girls faced an uphill battle to overcome the New London Bulldogs and Menasha Jays to take fourth place. The Hawks prevailed with two second-place finishes to help propel the Hawks into that fourth-place slot. Jaelyn Hietpas and Ava Hoffman, a newly formed doubles team, stepped into the No. 2 role at the sixth seed. They were the bracket busting Cinderella story of the tournament, making it to the championship match before falling to perennial conference champs Xavier. Rachael Carroll made it to the championship match for the second year in a row but met the same fate to a Xavier player. These two strong performances edged the Hawks past the Bulldogs. The next step is the WIAA subsectionals Oct. 8. At No. 1 singles, Ireland Setterman lost 6-1, 6-1 and then won 6-0, 6-1. Carroll’s victories were 6-0, 6-0 over Marinette and 6-3, 6-0 over West De Pere. Her loss to Appleton Xavier came on 6-2, 6-1 sets. Hadley Rettke, at No. 3 singles, lost 6-1, 6-4 to Fox Valley Lutheran and 7-5 (7), 6-6 (7), 10-5 to New London. Laney Rich played at No. 4 singles and lost 6-3, 6-3 to Menasha and 6-1, 6-2 to New London. At No. 1 doubles, Claire Weiland and Olivia Dobratz lost 6-1, 4-6, 11-9 to New London and 7-5, 2-0 to Menasha. Hoffman and Hietpas beat New London 6-4, 5-7, 10-6, topped Fox Valley Lutheran 3-6, 6-4, 10-7 and fell to Xavier 6-0, 6-0. At No. 3 doubles, Madison Miller and Chloe Gilling won 6-2, 7-5 over New London, lost 6-0, 6-0 to West De Pere and lost 6-0, 6-3 to Menasha.