By Mari Smith
The Vicksburg Varsity Girls Tennis team started the season with two wins in Wolverine Conference matches. Vicksburg first took on Paw Paw, where the Bulldogs had a clean sweep 8-0.
The next day, the Bulldogs came up against Dowagiac where they conquered the Chieftans 7-1, with the only loss from the number one doubles players Kia Hall and Megan Foster due to default because of illness.
In the Greater Kalamazoo Tournament on April 19 and 21 with fourteen area teams, Alex Oswalt finished second runner up for #2 singles and Megan Wolf second runner up for #4 singles. The doubles team of Cantu and Kaufman landed a fourth place finish.
On their home court, the Bulldogs gained another Conference win against Plainwell, racking up a 7-1 victory over the Trojans. Traveling to Otsego, the Bulldogs blanked their conference-rival Bulldogs 8-0, with only two of the matches going into a third set.
Back on the road at Marshall for a non-conference match up, Vicksburg had another win 5-3. Number one singles Alabina Zaganjor won 6-3, 6-3 and number two singles Oswalt won 6-1, 6-4. Marie Ludemann and Wolf took losses, as did number one doubles Hall and Foster.
Number two doubles Julie Cantu and Calista Kaufman took their victory 6-2, 6-1; Claire Mutch and Katie Reed 6-2, 6-4, and Rachel Blough and Karissa Wilson rounded out the victories for the Bulldogs 6-1, 6-0.
The team is coached by Coach Warner Offord, Jr. and new assistant coach Ryan Farquhar. Playing number one singles is sophomore Alabina Zaganjor, number two singles senior Alex Oswalt, number three singles senior Marie Ludemann, and number four singles sophomore Megan Wolf.
On the doubles team rosters are seniors Kia Hall and Megan Foster number one, senior Julia Cantu and sophomore Calista Kaufman number two, sophomores Claire Mutch and Katie Reed number three, and senior Rachel Blough and junior Karissa Wilson number four.
Two of the singles positions are held by foreign exchange students. Zaganjor is a foreign exchange student from Montenegro and Ludemann is from Germany. The team is relatively young with the loss of 75 percent of its members to graduation last year, and only two returning varsity team members.