Pioneers Sweep Charlestown 5 - 0

The Pioneers finished a successful week defeating the visiting Pirates 5 – 0. The Pioneers were a little tired from having play three match this week prior to the match today and arrived home late last night from playing Jasper.

Kara Garcia recorded her first varsity singles win in the match losing the first set 6-4 and stormed back to win the second 6-0, she jumped ahead in the third 5-1 only to lose three games before winning the set 6-4. The team rushed the court after the match and she even got a piggyback ride.

Stephanie Smith played a solid match winning 6-1, 6-1.

Freshman Jacqueline Hollkamp had a tough first set winning 7-5 but dominated in the second 6-0.

The number one doubles of Hanna Gish and Courtney Murphy won 6-2, 6-2 and second doubles of Hillary Ernstberger and Kelsey Haas won 6-0, 6-1.

Next match is at Sacred Heart Academy on Monday.

Providence Defeats Salem 4 - 1

Providence won their second match in two days defeating Salem at Community Park. Senior Stephanie Smith led the way for the Pioneers winning at number 1 singles 6-2, 6-1. Freshman Jacqueline Hollkamp won 6-0, 6-1. Junior Kara Garcia put a great come back in the first set being down 4-1 to take the first set to a tiebreaker which she lost 7 - 3 and then she lost the second set 6-0. This was the best match that Garcia has played on the season; the match was closer than the score indicated because Kara was the last player off the court. In doubles first and second doubles both won. Hanna Gish and Courtney Murphy won 6-4, 7-5 and second doubles of Hillary Ernstberger and Kelsey Haas won 6-2, 6-3. The doubles continues to improve each time they go on to the court. First doubles struggled a little but had solid play and continue to serve very well. The Pioneers are 4 and 2 with Jasper on Wednesday and Charlestown on Thursday.

Stephanie Smith (P) defeated Olivia Hazelip (S) 6-2, 6-1

Jacqueline Hollkamp (P) defeated Allison Kinney (S) 6-0, 6-1

Wendy Fleenor (S) defeated Kara Garcia (P) 7-6 (7-3), 6-0

Hanna Gish/Courtney Murphy (P) defeated Tressie Barret/Danielle Williams (S) 6-4, 7-5

Hillary Ernstberger/Kelsey Haas (P) defeated Teddi Mahuron/Kassidy Smith (S) 6-2, 6-3

Providence defeats Clarksville 3-2

The Pioneers defeated their cross town rivals 3-2 on Monday. The team was lead by the efforts of their number 1 doubles team. The team of Hanna Gish and Courtney Murphy lost only one game winning the match 6-1, 6-0. This team is getting better every time they take the courts. Freshman Jacqueline Hollkamp played an outstanding match against a Clarksville freshman winning 6-3, 6-2. Jacqueline has been working really hard in practice and it showed today on the court. The final victory of the day was by the second doubles team of junior Hillary Ernstberger and freshman Kelsey Haas winning 7-6 (7-5), 6-4. They lead most of the first set, but fell behind near the end fought back to take the set to 6-6; then in the tiebreaker they fell behind again, but then played some outstanding to go from down 5-2 to winning the tiebreaker 7-5. In the second set they came out and continued their good play, but lost focus and the match got close before they finished the second set at 6-4. Stephanie Smith played at first singles losing to one of the area's best players 6-2, 6-1. Kara Garcia had a tough match losing 6-0, 6-0.

Deahna Welcher (C) defeated Stephanie Smith (P) 6-2, 6-1

Jacqueline Hollkamp (P) defeated Jackie Slaten (C) 6-3, 6-2

Jamie Wilkerson (C) defeated Kara Garcia (P) 6-0, 6-0

Hanna Gish/Courtney Murphy (P) defeated Tesia Jenkins/Jazzmine Rolon (C)6-1, 6-0

Kelsey Haas/Hillary Ernsetberger (p) defeat Jessica Riley/Domenica Hart (C)7-6 (7-5), 6-4

The Pioneers play Salem at 5 PM on their home courts tomorrow.

Pioneers Even Their Record in Dual Matches

Providence evened their dual match record at 2 and 2 by defeating North Harrison and earning their first home court victory of the season. The lady Pioneers were led by freshman Jacqueline Hollkamp and seniors Courtney Murphy and Hanna Gish. The final point was earned by the second doubles team of Kelsey Haas and Hillary Ernstberger. In the quickest match of the day number one doubles won 6-0, 6-1, the senior tandem played some of their best to date in the victory. Jacqueline playing at number one singles dispatched her appoint at 6-1, 6-1. Jacqueline used a diverse ground game to win the match. The second doubles team won the first set easily at 6-1, but struggled somewhat in the second set falling behind 4-2 before winning the last four games, with the final three in a dominating fashion. Kara Garcia and Maggie Bremmer also played in the varsity contest.

Allison Primvera won at JV singles and Sarah Fiderspiel and Kristin Simms won at JV doubles.

The JV team will play on Tuesday at South Central. The next varsity match is Saturday at 2 PM at Community Park.

Providence finishes second in New Albany Invitational

The Providence girl's tennis team finished second in the annual New Albany Invitation, losing to the host school. Three Providence players advanced to the finals of the tournament with Freshman Jacqueline Hollkamp winning the 2^nd singles tournament. Senior Captain Stephanie Smith lost to Clarksville number 1 singles player and Freshman Kelsey Haas lost a three set match to Clarksville 3^rd singles player. The number 1 doubles team finished third in the tournament losing in the semi-final round to the eventual number 1 doubles champions of New Albany in a very close match. The second doubles team finished 7^th in the tournament.

There were many highlights in the tournament. Stephanie Smith played one of her best matches of the season in the semi-final round victory of 6-0, 6-0 over Christian Academy. Assistant Coach Scott Gurgol was most impressed with her play in her second match of the day. Jacqueline Hollkamp very simply played better in each round of the tournament and had an impressive victory in the finals over a very good New Albany player. Kelsey Haas played her first two matches in outstanding fashion to advance to the finals of the 3^rd singles draw; she won the first set at 7-5 but lost the second at 4-6 and dropped a ten point tie-breaker for the third set. Providence's number 1 doubles team of Hanna Gish and Courtney Murphy played a solid match against Clarksville in the first round, but fell in a close match to New Albany in the semi-finals 4-6, 6-7 (5-7), in there losing effort they still played solid tennis. In the number 2 doubles position JV singles player Pyria Patel played in her first varsity match in doubles with Hillary Ernstberger the duo lost the match to North Harrison. In the second and third match Kara Garcia played with Hillary and they lost the first back draw match to Henryville, before winning their third match 8-0 against Christian Academy.

Next up for the Pioneers is Jeffersonville on Monday at Jeff.

Providence Sweeps Christian Academy

On a cold, windy afternoon the lady Pioneers won their first match of the young season by defeating the Warriors on their home courts and losing only a total of 8 games. With the wind blowing at 20 mph and the temperature in the low 50s the Pioneers wearing their new long sleeve playing shirts took control early and never looked back to win their first match of the season against one loss. Senior Doubles team of Hanna Gish and Courtney Murphy won 6-0, 6-0 and played aggressively in the very windy conditions. Senior Stephanie Smith lost only one game in the first set to win 6-1, 6-0; Steph played an outstanding match against a nice hitter. The other two singles matches were won by Freshmen Jacqueline Hollkamp at 6-2, 6-0 and Kelsey Haas at 6-0, 6-1. The closest match of the day was recorded by the second doubles team composed of Juniors Kara Garcia and Hillary Ernstburger with a 6-1, 6-3 victory. A single JV match was played by Kristin Simms and Sarah Fiderspiel and they won 8-0.

This was a good win by the entire team, each player improved from the loss earlier in the week, but each player still can play much better. Hopefully we will have less wind on Saturday at the New Albany Invitational and the girls can concentrate more on tennis and less on the playing conditions.

Pioneers fall to Bedford North Lawrence in opening match

In a very windy later afternoon match, the Providence Girls dropped a very close match to Bedford North Lawrence Stars 4 - 1. While the score may not indicate the closeness of the match, each position was very competitive. The highlight of the day was the first match for freshman Jacqueline Hollkamp in which she won over her opponent 6-1, 6-4. This win proved to be the only win for the Pioneers in their first match of the season. Senior Stephanie Smith lost 7-5, 6-4. Senior doubles team of Hanna Gish and Courtney Murphy lost the first set in a tiebreaker, in which they got down early rallied back before losing the tiebreaker 7-5, the match score was 7-6, 6-1. The number two doubles team of Juniors Hillary Ernstburger and Kara Garcia lost the first and third sets but won the second set, the match score was 6-0, 4-6, 6-0. Freshman Kelsey Haas played the number three position and lost a third set tiebreaker which was played because of darkness. With the third set tied 3-3 the coaches agreed that a tiebreaker to finish the set and match was in order because of darkness, with fans hardly able to see the ball Kelsey lost a very close tiebreaker and the match, her score was 6-2, 5-7, 4-3.

The next match for Providence will be against rival Christian Academy on April 8^th at 4 PM at CAI.