Fairmont’s Alison Slama winds up against Saint Peter’s Ella Dirks on Thursday afternoon at the Fairmont High School tennis courts.

FAIRMONT – Fairmont High School girls tennis fell to Saint Peter, 6-1, on Thursday afternoon at the campus tennis courts.

“We knew they were going to be tough, they are a tough team and have been really deep for a long time,” Olsen said.

While the loss still counts on the scoresheet, head coach Laura Olsen is happy with the things she saw from her Cardinals. An uptick in competition against a talented Saint team can only be good with team and individual sectional play starting in the coming weeks.

“I thought the girls came out, it took us a little bit for us to get warmed up, but then we saw some really good stuff. We saw that we could compete with a top-level team like this,” Olsen said. “We always challenge the girls to learn from every match,” Olsen said.

“As they were coming off the courts after each match, we would ask them about what they learned and how can we learn moving forward,” Olsen said. “I think they all really paid attention, learned, and had some good points.”

The lone point-scorer for Fairmont was No. 2 player Alison Slama. After dropping the first set 4-6, Slama evened things up with a 6-3 set victory of her own. The eighth grader ultimately won the tiebreaking set 10-7, securing the win over Ella Dirks in the process.

“Allie had a really great comeback in that second set in her singles match and then won that tiebreaker,” Olsen said. “As an eighth grader, that says a lot about her mental toughness. At such a young age, that’s really exciting to see as a coach.”

Outside of Slama, the rest of the meet was controlled by the Saints.

Kylie Southworth bested No. 1 Emelia Klanderud in another intense matchup. Like Slama, Klanderud found herself down one set after falling 6-4. However, the junior mustered her way to a tiebreaking opportunity, beating Southward 6-3 to force the third set. But the comeback was not enough, as the Saints No. 1 player bested Klanderud 10-5.

No. 3 Brielle Romasiewicz toppled Madisyn Peyman with consecutive 6-1 set victories. No. 4 Kady Thoms bested Ella Wubbena 6-3, 6-1.

Margaux Letts and Natalie Salfer defeated Fairmont’s Belinda Lutterman and Carly Gustafson, 6-3, 6-1. Charity Koller and Sada Harmes won over Katherine Zelaya and Addison Toothaker, 7-5, 6-0. Maddie Ruffing and Addy Jaeger bested Ada Edmundson and Cadleigh Jobe, 6-2, 6-1.

Fairmont continues their season next Tuesday with a road match against Tri-City United. Held at the Le Center LC Tennis Courts, this competition begins at 4:30 p.m.