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Following one of their most successful regular seasons in a handful of years, the North Branch girls tennis squad came crashing back down to earth in the first round of sections.

With high hopes and a home seed, the girls took on St. Francis, a fellow North Suburban Conference team that they had already beaten this year. "We had won nearly all the close matches in that earlier match against [the Saints], but this time, St. Francis was able to win the close ones," said Head Coach Tom McLaughlin.

According to McLaughlin, six out of the seven matches went terribly wrong for North Branch early on. "We fell behind at all the positions except for third doubles," he noted.

The Vikings may have been down, but they weren't out. "We fought back at nearly all the positions and had a good chance to win in the end," coach said.

The first point of the day came off the racquets of the aforementioned third doubles team of Katherine Helbig and Katie Munns. The pair that won the NSC championship at third doubles won in straight sets over their overmatched Saints counterparts.

The only other point the Vikings earned in the playoff match was from Emily Rollins at fourth singles.

The other girls did play well in defeat, however, as both Catie Bettendorf and Sarah Byrne dropped their matches at first and second singles, respectively, but neither played bad. In fact, McLaughlin said that the two "played possibly their best matches of the year."

The first doubles team of Quiana Quam and Jessica Klow also played a close match, getting numerous chances to win or take the lead against the Saints' top doubles team.

"It was a tough loss, but we knew it would be a tough match coming in," McLaughlin noted. "But, they all played great tennis."

St. Francis's reward for beating the Vikings was a match against the top seeded Elk River. The Elks quickly dispatched St. Francis and eventually won the section championship to move on to state.

Individual sections

Even after a successful regular season, the Vikings didn't get much love in the individual section seedings. The first doubles team of Quam and Klow were seeded eighth, and that was it as far as seeds went. The two singles players and other doubles team were drawn randomly to face some of the top seeds in the tough section.

Quam and Klow made good in their first match, winning 6-1, 6-4 against a pair from Cambridge-Isanti.

Despite their success, they were matched up with the top-seeded team in the section in their second round match, and they fell quickly to the supremely talented duo.

Byrne and Bettendorf represented the Vikings' singles players, and both had to play top five seeds in their first round. Both suffered a similar fate, bowing out early against tough opponents.

Emily Byrne and Bailey Milligan represented the Vikings as the other doubles teams in the match, but like their fellow Lady Vikes, they couldn't get their game going against one of the top tandems in the section.

"This was an incredible season for us. We played as a team and won as a team. OUr most consistent points came from our 'lower' positions on our roster and that was only made possible by play, leadership and the example set by my top players throughout the year," McLaughlin explained.

A big part of the Vikings marked success in the regular season can be attributed to the seniors, according to McLaughlin. The batch of graduating girls includes Bettendorf, Klow, Milligan and both Emily and Sarah Byrne. "They will be sorely missed next year , but they have paved the way for us to be even more successful next year," McLaughlin said.

The girls will return two seniors for next year, and also a big batch of junior varsity players who improved a lot this year according to McLaughlin. "If our doubles next year can be as consistent as they were this year, and we can pick up a few more points in the singles, we can be even more successful next year," he said.

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