ABOVE: Fairmont's Carly Gustafson prepares to return a serve from Redwood Valley's Anais Cournoyer during Tuesday afternoon's competition at the Fairmont High School tennis courts.

FAIRMONT – The Fairmont High School girls tennis team took down Redwood Valley 7-0 on Tuesday afternoon at the high school tennis courts.

Cardinals head coach Laura Olsen used a handful of new faces in her singles starting lineup, leaning on some underclassmen to guide the team to victory.

“It was really exciting to try just a different lineup in general,” Olsen said. “We’ve been pushing the girls to prepare for singles or doubles at any given time. I thought a lot of them stepped into their new roles tonight very well.”

Stepping into a new role against Redwood Valley was seventh grader Ada Edmundson. Playing as the fourth singles player in the varsity rotation, Edmundson took down Yazmin Nunez in straight sets.

After blanking Nunez 6-0 in Set 1, Edmundson fought off the late rally to win her match with a 6-3 set victory.

“She’s [Ada] very athletic and can keep that ball in play,” Olsen said. “They had a lot of really long rallies today, and a lot of them just fell her way. She’s an athlete, and we are making her a tennis player.”

Alison Slama was the No. 1 single today for Olsen, replacing Emelia Klanderud who took her talents to the doubles court. The eighth grader took down Redwood Valley’s Kaelynn Welsh in a pair of 6-2 set victories.

No. 2 singles player Ella Wubbena defeated Eloise Brozek in straight sets, winning 6-3 and 6-0 respectively.

No. 3 singles player Carly Gustafson finished the afternoon off strong for the Cardinals. After topping Anais Cournoyer, 6-3 in the first set, Gustafson completed the set sweep with a 6-4 victory.

“It was fun to be able to push some of our singles players by advancing them to the next level,” Olsen said. “We had a fourth singles player playing three singles, our three singles played two singles, our two singles played one singles, so it was really fun to see how that translates and how they can be successful at a higher level.”

On the doubles side of the court, Klanderud and Madisyn Peyman bested Kiki Goodthunder and Grace Blare in two 6-0 sets.

Katherine Zelaya and Addison Toothaker stayed aggressive throughout their match against Faith Bruns and Ellery Larsen, winning 6-0 and 6-1.

After a back and forth 6-3 set victory to open up the match, Fairmont’s Belinda Lutterman and Cadleigh Jobe topped Iris Vogland and Emma Lindsmeier, 6-0 to complete the win.

“I thought doubles really took care of business, especially at the net,” Olsen said. “We have been really working on our net presence, and I thought they really improved.”

Fairmont continues the 2025 season against River Valley on Thursday. Match play is set to begin at 4:30 p.m. at Sleepy Eye High School.