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Celina's Elise Muether returns a shot.
CELINA - The long road back up the leaderboard of the Western Buckeye League girls tennis standings is complete for the Celina girls tennis team.
The Bulldogs wrapped up a 9-0 regular season in league dual matches after they defeated Ottawa-Glandorf 4-1 on Monday afternoon at the Booster Club Tennis Complex.
Celina went unbeaten in league play for the first time since 2012, when the Bulldogs won their sixth league title.
The run has been a great rebound for the program, which has struggled and not finished higher than third place from 2013 to 2023.
"I am proud of them. They worked hard all summer," said Celina coach Jan Morrison. "I knew we were solid at every court, but you never know until you see how the competition is and how you respond to the match play. We are just happy to finish 9-0 and enjoy the moment."
The Bulldogs needed two three-set comebacks to secure the title. In third singles, Katie Guingrich lost 3-6 in the opening set to Myah Bockrath before winning the next two sets 6-0, 6-0 for the win.
Celina's Taryn Willrath returns a shot as doubles partner Jadice Dorsten, back, watches during Monday's WBL tennis match with Ottawa-Glandorf. The Celina tandem won in three sets to help the Bulldogs beat the Titans 4-1 to finish 9-0 in league play for the first time in 12 years.
Then in second doubles, Taryn Willrath and Jadice Dorsten lost the opening set 3-6 to Rylnne Verhoff and Abby Recker, then came back to win 6-1 in the second set followed by a 6-3 third set.
"Those third sets often times come down to heart and soul," said Morrison. "We played with heart and soul tonight."
Elise Muether, last season's WBL third singles champion, put herself in good shape to contend for the second singles title with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Mya Inkrott.
In first doubles, Kaleah Dailey and Larissa Jackson were given a battle by O-G's Jericha Walls and Courtney Miller before the Celina tandem won 6-4, 6-3.
"First doubles played excellent tonight, and Elise toughed it out," said Morrison.
The lone loss of the day for Celina came in first singles, where the Titans' Maggie Schmiedebusch won 6-1, 6-2 over Isabelle Thobe.
"Isabelle played well. She kept Maggie out there for a long time," said Morrison. "They had a lot of deuce games. She didn't win many games, but she kept the ball in play."
The league tournament gets underway on Thursday at the University of Northwestern Ohio's Racer Courts.
Celina's Katie Guingrich returns a shot against Ottawa-Glandorf's Myah Bockratch on Monday.
