Michigan City doubles cruises to victory

Updated: June 4, 2011 9:37PM

LAPORTE — Michigan City’s doubles team of Ashleigh Ellenwood and Lauren Palmer came out focused and determined to play and it showed at the Individual Tennis Regional at LaPorte as the duo dominated both in the semifinal and final rounds to secure their spot in next week’s state finals.

Ellenwood and Palmer came out strong and never looked back in the first match of the day against the doubles team from South Bend Clay taking it in straight sets 6-0, 6-0.

The duo kept things going in the final round against undefeated Central Noble (defeated Whiting 7-5, 6-3) in the same fashion, taking it in straight sets 6-0, 6-0.

Ellenwood and Palmer played extremely well together as they have throughout the season but took their game to another level at the regional.

“We came in here confident and with the heat, wanted to score early and often in hopes of wrapping our matches up faster, and we were able to do that today,” Ellenwood said.

“We played very well today were able to make good shots and our confidence grew with every shot,” Palmer said. “We hope to take that confidence into next weekend as well.”

Ellenwood and Palmer (18-3) received high praise from their coach on the way they played at the regional.

“As a coach you can only hope that your players are playing to the best of their ability at this time of the season and anyone that watched both of Ellenwood and Palmer’s matches could see that they are playing extremely well,” Michigan City coach Norm Bruemmer said.

In the singles, Penn junior Alexandra Brinker remained undefeated at 22-0 but it did not come easy for her. She was forced into a grueling match against Chesterton’s Bobbi Modesto in the semi-final that took three sets to decide.

The heat took its toll on both players but Brinker held on to move on against Kankakee Valley’s Abbey Hamstra who advanced with a win over Westview’s Tabitha Lehman 6-1, 6-2.

Hamstra seemed to have the edge as her earlier match ended well before the marathon match by Brinker and Modesto giving her more time to rest. Hamstra came out the aggressor taking an early 5-2 lead in the first set, but Brinker came back strong to tie the set at 6-6 to force a tiebreaker.

Brinker took the tiebreaker 7-4 and that seemed to give her the momentum she needed for the rest of the match. A 6-3 second set gave her the victory over a tough opponent in Hamstra.

Brinker, Ellenwood and Palmer move on to the state finals on Friday and Saturday at North Central High School in Indianapolis.

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