Battles were being waged Tuesday on the tennis courts at the
Pinery Country Club, where Douglas County traveled to take on
Ponderosa.

The Mustangs won the war, beating the Huskies 7-0.

At No. 1 singles, Ponderosa’s Tyler Maier was fighting to return
the serves of Kevin Lichtenstein. After Lichtenstein won the first
game of the match, Maier came back and won six of seven to take the
first set 6-2.

Maier kept his momentum and swept the second set 6-0.

“I think he just wasn’t getting his serves in as much [in the
second set],” Maier said, “because when did he get them in, it was
pretty much an ace.”

At No. 2 singles, Douglas County’s Sean Carlton trailed Brett
Green by one game through most of the first set. Carlton battled
back to win the last three games and take the set 7-5.

Carlton took his momentum into the second set and won the first
game, then it was Greene’s turn to stage a comeback. Greene gave up
only one more game to Carlton and collected a 6-2 victory to tie
the match.

Although Carlton made him fight for every point, Greene
continued the trend into the third set and took the match with a
6-1 victory.

“It was just whoever had the best hits and whoever wanted it the
most,” Carlton said. “That’s all it came down to.”

A similar battle was taking place at No. 3 singles. Douglas
County’s Matt Schmedeman beat Taylor Brown 6-2 in the first set,
and it appeared that Schmedeman’s unbeaten record would remain
intact.

Brown wasn’t going down that easily, however.

Brown fought back in the second set and saved the match with a
7-5 victory to send the match into a third set. In the final set,
Brown got ahead and stayed ahead, winning the set 6-2 and handing
Schmedeman his first loss of the season.

Ponderosa’s doubles teams keep their perfect seasons intact,
however.

Spencer LaCouture and Cormic Hodgin at No. 1 doubles, Brennan
Brooks and Tony Guerrie at No. 2 and Ryan Morgan and Stephan
Niccola at No. 3 have yet to taste defeat this season, and they
kept that trend up by beating their Douglas County counterparts in
two straight sets.

The team victory boosts the Mustangs to 6-1 in the season, while
the Huskies fall to 1-4.