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The Chisago Lakes girls tennis team knew they'd have a tough time in their early schedule. After graduating eight of their 10 varsity starters, the Wildcats went into the season as an experiment of sort to find the 10 best performers.

After tinkering with the lineup from the season-opening tournament in St. Francis throughout the River Falls invitational with poor results, the Wildcats finally earned their first win of the season.

Cambridge-Isanti 5, Chisago Lakes 2

Opening the season up on Tuesday, Aug. 19 at the St. Francis Invitational, the Wildcats drew the Cambridge-Isanti Bluejackets as their first opponent. "This was a close one. It could have gone either way," Head Coach Steve Otte said.

The 'Cats had a tough time finding claws in their singles matches, as they were swept in the first three match-ups. But, Leah Lackas kept the Wildcats alive with a 6-4, 6-2 win at fourth singles. "She did a really nice job of keeping the ball in play and waiting for her opponent to make the first mistake," Otte said of her performance.

The only other win for Chisago Lakes came at third doubles when the tandem of Anne Sedlund and Ashley Paul won 7-6, 4-6, 6-2. "They did a nice job of getting to the net and ending points early," Otte noted. "All the players worked extremely hard out there."

St. Francis 6, CL 1

In the second match of the invite, the Wildcats ran into the always-game St. Francis Saints.

The girls struggled with the Saints' experience and consistency at the nets, and found only one bright spot.

Cailin Engstrom and Laurel Harvey lost their first set at third doubles, but they showed some "Wildcat pride" according to Otte, and came back to win the next two, 6-3, 7-5 .

Andover 7, CL 0

The Wildcats participated in a triangular with Andover and Forest Lake in their next batch of games, and the results were tough to swallow as they played two of the better suburban schools.

At Forest Lake on Friday, Aug. 22, the Wildcats took on the Andover Huskies first, and fell behind quickly. "Andover returns a strong team from last year, and they pretty much had their way with us," Otte said.

Forest Lake 7, CL 0

The Rangers weren't a very friendly host, thrashing the Wildcats 7-0 in mostly one-sided matches.

"They have experience an that was the main difference between our two teams," Otte explained. "We are still learning how to control points and use things to our advantage, and Forest Lake is already doing that."

Hudson, WI 7, CL 0

The tinkering continued with the lineup going into the River Falls Invitational on Saturday, Aug. 23. After playing two tough teams the day before, the Wildcats didn't get any breaks with Hudson.

Going strong in the doubles, Hudson didn't seem to mind who trotted out against them, as they shut the Wildcats out.

"I'm proud of the players who played singles in this match because they know what is coming at them when they step on the courts," Otte said. "They held their heads up and fought the best that they could."

CL 4, River Falls, WI 3

After getting beat going doubles strong, Otte decided to go strong in the singles department against River Falls, and the gamble finally paid off as the Wildcats earned their first win of the season.

All four players who manned singled positions earned a point for the 'Cats. Some easier than others.

Michelle Caneday won a marathon match at first singles, losing the first set 4-6, but coming back to win 6-3, 10-8 in the last two sets.

At second singles, Alicia Ristow breezed past her opponent, winning 6-3, 6-2.

At third singles, Kelsey Ristow had a tough time dispatching her River Falls counterpart. After taking the first set 6-3, she lost the second set 6-1, and had to go to the last set to decide. The girls were evenly matched and battled until Kelsey pulled out an 11-9 win in the third set to win.

Ali Turnquist did her part to catapult the Wildcats to a win with a 6-2, 6-3 win at fourth singles. The four points at singles guaranteed the Wildcats their first win of the season.

"We went singles strong, and it worked out to our advantage as we were able to get our first victory of the season," Otte said. "All the players are getting better.

"Our main goal is to become more consistent players. We are doing that by concentrating more on getting a higher percentage of serves in and getting return serves back in play so that we can win points.

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