Red Wing tennis honors seniors hours into the night

Red Wing tennis treats its senior night seriously.

Under the coaching tandem of Emmy and Johannes Hartman, the two work hard to keep things serious in competition. When the matches are done, there are more games to be settled.

Hosting Lourdes Tuesday evening, the Winger girls' tennis team had several of their friends, families and the Fiesta Mexicana food truck in attendance. When senior Whiteney Fox finished her doubles match, the night was far from over.

“We normally stay out late. I'm excited, we have a lot of people here to play,” she said. “Night's not done yet.”

Usually a tradition reserved for the boys tennis team’s senior night against Schaeffer Academy, Johannes Hartman insisted on a coaches match. He and Lorilei Hartman teamed up to face Eagles head coach Maurice Westerhouse and Ruby Bedard anyway.

After one game, first to 10, Lourdes stuck around to play GVS (groundie, volley, smash) with the entire Winger roster, a few siblings and dads.

Even after Lourdes packed up and left, the Wingers continued to play GVS past sunset under portable flood lights and music until 9:30 p.m.

During the daylight, Fox was teamed up with Olivia Anderson in No. 1 doubles. The duo won their match in front of a much larger crowd than normal. Near the end of the first set, the entire girls' soccer team came in to root for her.

Even though Fox said the match was somewhat disjointed in pace and perhaps not the best played match between her and Anderson, she couldn’t ignore the cheers when one of the two hit a good shot.

“I want to seem good to my friends. It's hard to miss and not get upset and not think about it because they are right there,” she said. “My coach always tells me to look at the hot dog color because we have red courts. That's what I have to do is keep my face down at the hot dog color.

“It's pretty special, and I'm glad they came out.”

Fox is one of two seniors on a very young Winger team. The other, Alyssa Rice, also played in a doubles match. For Fox, she’s been heavily involved in tennis throughout her high school years. She tried other sports but kept coming back to tennis.

“I really love playing tennis,” Fox said. “I've had such a great time. I'm hoping to play in college. It's just the love of the sport.”

Fox has played multiple seasons as a singles player. She appeared in No. 4 and some No. 3 singles matches, but just recently made the move to No. 1 doubles.

So far, so good for the new No. 1 pairing. They earned a 6-3, 6-3 win over Lake City and a 7-6(1), 6-0 win against Cotter. They won 6-2, 6-0 on Senior Night.

Anderson was playing mostly No. 3 singles while Fox was at No. 2 singles before the change in lineup.

“It really feels like I'm playing out there with my best friend,” Fox said. “It's a lot less pressure in doubles because in singles you are all by yourself where every mistake is on you. But doubles, you have another person there and they are always there to cheer you on.”

Red Wing ended their regular season Tuesday and now shift their focus to section playoffs. First up is the Section 1A team tournament. The Wingers are the No. 7 seed and traveled to face No. 2 Cannon Falls Thursday afternoon. Winners advance to the semifinals Monday at the Rochester Athletic Club.

The Section 1A individual tournament is over two days, Wednesday, Oct. 14, and Monday, Oct. 19, at the Rochester Athletic Club.