The Fairfield girls tennis team had a landmark week, sweeping conference foe Burlington on Thursday, August 20th before placing second out of 16 teams at the Pella Tulip City Tussle on Saturday, August 22nd — a strong statement for a program ranked ninth in Class 1A in the preseason.
Thursday, August 20th — vs. Burlington
The Trojans swept Burlington 9-0 in a Southeast Conference matchup, winning their 18th straight conference match and sweeping all three of their conference opponents 9-0 to open the season. It was the first time Fairfield has swept Burlington in recent records — the best previous margin against the Grayhounds had been 7-2.
Burlington entered the match as Fairfield’s toughest conference opponent and the biggest threat to the Trojans’ bid for a third straight Southeast Conference title, but Fairfield left no doubt — sending a clear message about where this program stands heading into the heart of the conference schedule.
Burlington entered the match at 3-0 overall after sweeping Muscatine, Fort Madison, and Mount Pleasant.
At No. 1 singles, Natalie Steele defeated Ava Fawcett 6-2, 6-1. Ria Ross won 6-1, 6-0 over Leah Sieren at No. 2. Sriya Yammanur had the most competitive match of the day at No. 3, battling back to defeat Saoirse Hermann-Wickham 6-2, 4-6, 11-9 in a three-set thriller — the first time Fairfield had to go three sets in a dual this season. Mareyn Dunkin cruised at No. 4 with a 6-0, 6-2 win over Sophia Pettit. Faeven Gebremariam won 6-2, 6-1 over Alisan Guyton at No. 5, and freshman Kinzley Dunkin closed out singles 6-1, 6-0 over Kayleigh Hartman at No. 6.
In doubles, Steele and Ross won 6-1, 6-0 over Fawcett and Sieren at No. 1. Yammanur and Gebremariam won 10-3 at No. 2 over Hermann-Wickham and Pettit. The Dunkin Duo of Mareyn and Kinzley closed things out 6-2, 6-0 over Guyton and Hartman at No. 3.
Fairfield improves to 3-0 overall and 3-0 in conference play. Burlington drops to 3-1 overall and 2-1 in conference.
Saturday, August 22nd — Pella Tulip City Tussle
Fairfield traveled to Pella for the Tulip City Tussle, one of the most competitive tournaments in Class 1A, and finished second out of 16 teams with 119 points — behind only Boone, ranked second in Class 1A, who won the tournament with 149 points. Fairfield improved on last year’s third-place finish at the same tournament. Five of the 16 teams were ranked in the top 10 in Class 1A.
Team Standings:
- Boone (No. 2 1A) — 149 points
- Fairfield (No. 9 1A) — 119 points
- Spencer (No. 4 1A) — 113 points
- Sergeant Bluff-Luton — 105 points
- Pella (No. 3 1A) — 102.5 points
- Decorah (No. 5 1A) — 61.5 points
- Mount Vernon — 42.5 points
- Pella JV — 42.5 points
- Ottumwa — 28 points
- Clear Lake — 16 points
- St. Edmond — 12 points
- Clarinda — 10.5 points
- Oskaloosa — 8.5 points
- Pella Christian — 8 points
- Aplington-Parkersburg — 4 points
- Shenandoah — 3 points
Individual Results:
Natalie Steele placed fourth in singles, going 3-2. She defeated Hailey Montgomery of Oskaloosa 4-1, 4-3 (5-4), and pulled off two impressive comeback wins during the day — rallying from a set down to beat Stella Dvorak of Mount Vernon 2-4, 4-3 (5-3), 7-2, and doing the same against Dakoda Lux of Spencer, falling 0-4 in the first set before winning 4-3 (5-3), 7-1. She fell to Grace Huinker of Decorah 4-1, 4-1, and to Camryn Glass of Sergeant Bluff-Luton 4-0, 4-0.
Ria Ross placed sixth in singles, going 3-2. She defeated Macy Westerkamp of Pella 4-1, 4-3 (5-2), Chandy Nothwehr of Clarinda 4-1, 4-0, and Madalynn Sertterh of Ottumwa 4-2, 4-0. She fell to Camryn Glass of Sergeant Bluff-Luton 4-1, 4-3 (5-3), and to Stella Dvorak of Mount Vernon 4-0, 3-4 (4-5), 6-5 in a tight three-set loss.
Sriya Yammanur and Faeven Gebremariam placed eighth in doubles, going 2-3. They defeated Alexa Barnes and Kylar Downey of Clarinda 4-2, 4-1, and Isis Timm and Niva Anderson of Decorah 4-1, 4-0. They fell to Madison Grote and Holly Guntren of Sergeant Bluff-Luton 4-2, 2-4, 8-6, Trinley Gibson and Sierra Leathers of Pella 4-1, 4-3 (5-4), and Kate Elser and Jillian Kabrick of Spencer 4-0, 3-4 (1-5), 7-1.
The Dunkin Duo of Mareyn and Kinzley had a standout day in doubles, going 5-1 to place ninth. Among their five wins was a notable victory over Olivia Conlin and Harper Kuehl of Boone 4-2, 1-4, 7-1 — a significant result given that Boone is ranked second in Class 1A and went on to win the tournament. They also defeated Ava Burreson and Sofia Hageman of Decorah 4-0, 4-2, Gracey Smith and Paige Geitzenauer of Clear Lake 4-1, 4-0, Abigail Ellison and Ana Toloza of Ottumwa 4-2, 4-1, and Madison Loge and Jacelyn Ainley of Clear Lake 4-0, 4-3 (5-0). Their only loss came to Addison Namminga and Reagan De Jong of Pella 4-0, 4-0.
Coach Travis Dunkin was effusive in his praise for the team’s effort. “A complete team effort got this done. If you look, we were the only team that had 10 plus points for each column and we had 20 plus points at that.” He also noted that every Fairfield entry finished in the top nine out of 32 singles and 32 doubles entrants. “Love these girls. Their heart, dedication, grit, grind. Great teammates cheering for each other. It’s a blessing I get to be a part of the journey.” Dunkin closed with a simple but telling reflection on what the day accomplished. “We went to get better and we definitely accomplished that goal,” he said.
Notable Context
The Pella tournament featured 12 state qualifiers from last year, including three from Fairfield. Among the returning state qualifiers in the field were Grace Huinker of Decorah, who finished second in doubles at state last year, Camryn Glass of Sergeant Bluff-Luton, who qualified in singles, the doubles team of Kaylee Kuehl and Livi Schneider of Boone who placed fifth at state, Lyla Mather of Shenandoah in doubles, the doubles team of Brynn Merchant and Kennedy Graettinger of Spencer who placed eighth — falling to Ria Ross and Sriya Yammanur in the seventh-place match last year — Addison Namminga of Pella who placed third in doubles, and Stella Britton of Sergeant Bluff-Luton in doubles. Representing Fairfield among last year’s state qualifiers were Ria Ross and Sriya Yammanur, who placed seventh in doubles, and Natalie Steele, who placed eighth in singles.
What’s Next
Fairfield has a busy week ahead, hosting Davis County on Monday before traveling to Fort Madison on Tuesday — a makeup of the conference match that was postponed earlier in the season due to wet courts. The Trojans then travel to Keokuk on Thursday before heading to Ottumwa for a tournament on Saturday.
