Girls tennis: Lauren Ball works on overhand serve as Wadsworth rolls to non-league win over Cloverleaf

WADSWORTH — Lauren Ball is still working on getting back on top of things. After spending her junior season serving underhand due to a shoulder injury, the Wadsworth tennis team's first singles player is back to using a conventional overhead serve. Despite a large handful of double faults Tuesday, the athletic Ball cruised to a 6-0, 6-0 victory over Cloverleaf's Brenna Carpenter as the Grizzlies rolled to a 4-1 non-league victory. "It was pretty inconsistent," the two-time honorable mention All-Gazette pick said of her serve. "I'm still trying to get in the groove and work the kinks out after not serving overhand for two years." A Tiffin University softball recruit, Ball is in her fourth varsity tennis season for the Grizzlies (2-1). After spending last season at second singles, she's back at the No. 1 spot, where she also played as a sophomore. Cloverleaf's Carpenter is making the jump from third singles to the top spot, and although she played well at times, Ball simply had more weapons. Ball's forehand and net play were particularly effective as Wadsworth dropped the Colts to 1-2. "The biggest thing today was to keep my energy level up and try to work on things," Ball said. "If the ball is coming back slower than I'm used to, I have to remember not to try and kill it every time. "It's still early in the season, but every match we'll work to improve. I'm excited to see how the season goes." Wadsworth second singles player Sienna Lucci was equally impressive while posting a double-bagel win over Mady Sweitzer, while the Grizzlies first doubles team of Avery Neville and Tessa Demiter rolled to a 6-0, 6-1 victory over Alyssa Bergman and Jasmine Shimko. "I've been trying to do a lot of offense but still keep the defense," said Lucci, who was a human backboard while playing No. 3 singles as a junior. "A lot of people get upset with themselves if you keep hitting the ball back. I just try to stay consistent. "Today wasn't my best match, but I still won. I tried to work on being more offensive-minded and work on stuff so I could use it in a closer match." The Grizzlies got their fourth point from the never-give-up second doubles team of Laney Ross and Eden Kapusinski. The duo dropped the first set to Stella Elkevizth and Desi Bohner 6-7 (6), but won the second 6-3. Playing a 10-point tiebreaker in lieu of a full third set, Ross and Kapusinki captured the last six points of the match to triumph 10-8. The third singles match, which lasted approximately 2½ hours, was just as close. Cloverleaf's Mallory Bohan, who didn't play tennis until spending her junior year on the junior varsity team, downed Bailey Blum 7-6 (6), 3-6, 10-6. "It was stressful," Bohan said. "I was just keeping my cool and not really thinking about anything but the next point. That helped me a lot, but I was really tired in the second set and it was hard to stay calm." Bohan and Blum lost track of the score, which court they should be serving to and when to switch sides on several occasions during the 10-point tiebreaker, but they were able to huddle and work it out each time. "I had never played a tiebreaker before and it didn't seem like she had, either," Bohan said. "It was something we just had to figure out." Contact Rick Noland at (330) 721-4046 or rnoland@medina-gazette.com. Follow him @RickNoland on X. Wadsworth 4, Cloverleaf 1 Singles: Lauren Ball (W) d. Brenna Carpenter, 6-0, 6-0; Sienna Lucci (W) d. Mady Sweitzer, 6-0, 6-0; Mallory Bohan (C) d. Bailey Blum, 7-6 (6), 3-6, 10-6. Doubles: Avery Neville/Tessa Demiter (W) d. Alyssa Bergman/Jasmine Shimko, 6-0, 6-1; Laney Ross/Eden Kapusinski (W) d. Stella Elkevizth/Desi Bohner, 6-7 (6), 6-3, 10-8. Records: Cloverleaf (1-2), Wadsworth (2-1).