Cyclone Tennis Falls to St. Albert, 7-2

HC Girls' Tennis Sophie Freund, Chloe Swensen, Kerrigan Kruse, & Claire Bieker (8-31-26)

Cyclone Tennis Falls to St. Albert, 7-2 –

(8-31-26) – Finding the silver lining helps teams get better

So, despite Harlan Community girls’ tennis losing to St. Albert by a 7-2 final, Assistant Coach Michael Rueschenberg liked how his athletes played, particularly in doubles.

“Singles didn't go quite our way, but it was good to see that the girls didn't fold and came back and were really, really competitive in doubles and we went two and one against them.”

Rueschenberg and Coach Dillon Stane decided to flip-flop their top two doubles pairing with Chloe Swensen and Sophie Freund as the No. 1 team and Mariajose Guerrero Luna and Allison Retzlaff as No. 2 doubles. While Guerrero Luna and Retzlaff fell in their match, 8-2, Swensen and Freund dominated to an 8-2 win over Ellie Larmie and Brooklyn Hughes. Swensen discussed her new doubles pairing with Freund.

“I feel like we just talked with each other really well. We both got to the net at some point. We both hit really good ground strokes and she hit amazing net shots.”

The evening ended with a hard-fought 9-7 win by the Cyclones No. 3 doubles pair of Claire Bieker and Kerrigan Kruse over the Saintes Maeve Ryan and Lexie Pearce. Kruse believes her friendship with Bieker has helped them mesh as a successful doubles team.

“Being friends together, we like normally communicate really well. And if we don't, a lot of bad things can happen, I guess. But us communicating really helps, especially at the net.”

Bieker talked about what she’s done to improve her ground stroke.

“I think just like practicing a lot with the team and just going against my teammates that maybe are better than me or just all like the things we didn't practice definitely help. But just staying consistent definitely helps with the strokes backhand and forehand.”

Freund says the camaraderie she has with her teammates helps make the sport enjoyable.

“We all get along very well, very friendly, all get each other's jokes and everything. We just work well together and communicate and hang out outside of tennis practice, get together outside on the weekends to hit, to get better, and work together.”

The loss puts Harlan Community at 3-5 on the season and they’ll next play in an all-day tournament in Atlantic on Wednesday.

View past scores by visiting the Iowa High School Athletic Association's website, Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union website,
or Iowa Quik Stats