Tennis: After retooling lineup, Cavs cruise

By Jimmy Dettman, Journal correspondent | Tuesday, September 16, 2008

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RAPID CITY — St. Thomas More-Rapid City Christian continued its dominance of this young season with a victory over Todd County, its second straight shutout of the week. The win came on a day that entertained 30 mph winds in Rapid City. 

The Cavaliers got off to a quick start and never let up as they swept all five singles matches and two doubles matchups. 

At No. 1 singles, Aisling Gould defeated Amanda Jackson 6-1, 6-0. However the points within the match were back and forth, with Aisling coming out on top in all but one of the games. 

“We’ve been friends since seventh grade, so it is always fun to play Amanda. We both played well and we both had to battle the wind,” Gould said.

At No. 2 singles, Cheyenne Rayforth defeated Hannah Gasida 6-3, 6-2. 

“Hannah was really fun to play and extremely friendly throughout the match,” Rayforth said. “I served well, and we both had to make adjustments to the wind as it swirled throughout the match.”

At No. 3 singles, Alexis Haabrdahs defeated Allie Swalley 6-1, 6-0. In No. 4 singles, Catherine Gibbons defeated Shawn Young 6-0, 6-0, and Karissa Snow defeated Nyrea Leighton, 6-1, 6-0, in No. 5 singles. 

At No. 1 doubles, the Cavalier duo of Gould and Rayforth continued its winning ways with a 6-0, 6-0 victory over Jackson and Gasida. Within the match there were many back and forth points with one of them resulting in a swing-and-a-miss by Gasida after Gould hit a crosscourt top-spin forehand with a tremendous burst of power. There was another rally that involved 12 hits before Gasida put it away with an overhead slam. 

Both teams showed tremendous sportsmanship as compliments flowed back and forth throughout the match.

“We love playing together.  We even have matching tennis hairpins,”  Gould said, when asked about playing with Rayforth. “However we have to contribute a lot of our early success to our off-season commitment to practicing tennis that is showing in our play right now.”

At No. 2 doubles, the St. Thomas More girl tandem of Marin Plumb and Denali Rayforth defeated Allie Swalley and Shawn Young, 6-0, 6-1.

The highlights were led by Cavaliers’ Denali Rayforth as she had multiple hard-hit winners to help secure the early-season victory. The Lady Falcons kept the game scores close, but in the end Denali’s consistent forehand and backhand winners were just too much for the Falcons duo to overcome. 

“Today was challenging for all of the girls with the wind blowing so hard.  Because they (Todd County) showed up with only five girls, I had to mix up my line-up a little bit to ensure all of the girls had an opportunity to play. I am happy with the consistent play of my team,” Cavaliers coach Mary Helen Flannery.

The Cavaliers next go on a road trip to Brookings, Millbank and Roncalli on Monday and then on their way back battle with Madison and Vermillion on Tuesday.  The Lady Falcons are back on the hard courts next Monday at Sturgis.