Minot High’s Ella Sherven prepares to return a shot during the opening set of her match with Bismarck High’s Berkley Schettler on Thursday, April 16, at Cameron Indoor Tennis Center. Sherven won the match 6-2, 6-7 (1), 10-6. Mike Kraft/MDN

In the last four days, the Minot High girls tennis team has played five matches against four different teams across three separate locations.

All five matches had one thing in common: a win for the Majettes.

Minot High capped off a loaded week of matches with a 9-0 victory over Bismarck High on Thursday, April 16, at Cameron Indoor Tennis Center. The Majettes recorded their third sweep in as many matches and fourth so far this season.

Minot High sophomore Ella Sherven teamed up with her younger sister Alivia for the first time during the regular season (they played together in an exhibition match against Valley City prior to the start of the season) at No. 3 doubles before earning a hard-fought match at No. 4 singles. The Sherven sisters bested Bismarck High’s Maya Haider and Madeline Chouinard, 6-0, 6-2, as the Majettes rolled out three new doubles combos against the Demons.

“Sometimes we play really well together and we’re energetic with each other, but sometimes it doesn’t go that way,” Ella Sherven said. “Today was a very ‘on’ day for us. We were very energetic and positive. That’s what made it fun and made us win.”

Quick starts were a theme for the doubles matches, as the Majettes won 18 of 19 games in the opening set. A pair of Our Redeemer’s athletes paired up at No. 1 doubles in Kyllie Fettig and Grace Olson, delivering a 6-1, 6-1 victory against Kendra Haider and Berkley Schettler.

“We started with doubles today and I think we won the first set in all three doubles matches quick – 10 or 15 minutes,” Minot High coach Scott DeLorme said. “I was very pleased with our start. I would say one thing over the last couple of years even though we’ve had success, our starts have been a little bit slow. We didn’t have that today. We came out and played well. The doubles teams communicated and were aggressive and that really carried over to our singles. All in all, I thought all nine of our girls played pretty high-quality tennis and every match we’ve played so far, we’ve gotten better.”

Ava Thuner and McKenna Odahlen completed the doubles sweep with a 6-0, 6-4 decision over Sophia Koch and Alexandra Koch.

The Majettes (5-0 overall, 2-0 WDA) have now used 12 different doubles combinations so far this season and are 14-1 combined. The pairings of Fettig-Ella Sherven, Bristol Bolton-Chelsey Zieska and Odahlen-Alivia Sherven have produced two victories each.

“We just talk about communicating,” DeLorme said. “We know what we have in our top three singles players (Fettig, Thuner and Olson). With those three, they’re also incredibly skilled doubles players. It gives us the luxury to really mix and match early on in the year. We know at tournament time when it’s just three singles and two doubles, we need two doubles teams. We’re going to continue to mix and match doubles teams all year. Hopefully by early May, we will start to have an idea of what we’re leaning toward.”

Ella Sherven returned to the court for singles play against Bismarck High’s most successful singles players so far this season in Schettler. The Demons (0-4, 0-2) entered the match with three singles victories and Schettler was responsible for all of them.

The match didn’t disappoint, with Sherven coming out on top 6-2, 6-7 (1), 10-6.

Sherven led wire-to-wire in the opening set on the strength of her service game. She jumped out to a 2-1 lead before winning four of the final five games to grab the opening set.

“That’s one of my strong suits,” Sherven said. “When I hit my first serve and it goes in, I feel like I get an extra boost of confidence and that just helps me 100 percent more.”

After falling behind 4-1 in the second set, Sherven broke Schettler’s serve in the ensuing game and rallied to take a 6-5 lead. Schettler regrouped to force a second-set tiebreaker, which she would go on to win 7-1.

Schettler seized on that momentum to capture the first two points of the third set. Not letting nerves get the better of her, Sherven came back to win the ensuing five points and led the rest of the way to hand Schettler her first loss in singles play this season.

“The whole time I felt like I could win this one point at a time,” Sherven said. “There was no time where I felt defeated. She is a really good player, so it was really fun to play. I was really nervous for a part of it because she was getting back into the swing of things and returning my shots more and more consistently. But I would say it was more fun to play than nerve-racking.”

It was Sherven’s second victory in singles play.

“It was nice to see her find a way to win,” DeLorme said. “When you get in those matches where you’re maybe not playing your best tennis, just finding a way to win says a lot about your character. She changed her style a little bit and adjusted what she thought she had to do in that third-set tiebreak and she ultimately outgrinded the other girl, who is very athletic and a good player in her own right.”

Thuner recorded her team-leading fifth singles victory, defeating Sophia Koch, 6-0, 6-0. Fettig and Olson each notched their fourth wins. At No. 1 singles, Fettig bested Kendra Haider, 6-0, 6-1, and Olson posted a 6-1, 6-1 decision against Maya Haider, 6-1, 6-1, at No. 3 singles.

Odahlen took down Alexandra Koch at No. 5 singles, 6-3, 6-0, and Alivia Sherven beat Mataya Thompson, 6-3, 6-2, at No. 6 singles.

The Majettes get a bit of reprieve from competition after four consecutive days of matches that began on Monday indoors with contests against Williston and Bismarck Century. The following day they were on a bus to Williston before returning home for a Wednesday match outdoors with Minot North and concluding back inside Cameron on Thursday against the Demons.

Minot High hosts a non-conference match against Bismarck Legacy on Tuesday, April 21, at 4 p.m. at Hammond Park.