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Notre Dame’s Megan Gullette shines despite team loss to Kennett
Notre Dame’s Megan Gullette began her senior tennis season with a bang.
Gullette topped Kennett’s Anelle Harris 8-4 in No. 1 singles Tuesday night at Notre Dame High School in her first singles match of the 2021 season.
“I feel really good,” Gullette said. “I feel like I played pretty good. Obviously, it’s the first match of the season so I’m hoping I get better as we go.”
Notre Dame co-coach Donna Ryan wasn’t surprised by her No. 1 singles player’s performance and had high praise for the Bulldogs’ senior.
“I could have predicted Megan would (win),” Ryan said. “Megan is just a really good athlete and she’s a real good tennis player — the best one in Southeast Missouri I would dare to say. She’s prepared herself well for it, she works for it and she has a good mentality.
“She’s very smart on the tennis court. She plays really good shots and really smart shots, in doubles and singles both.”
Gullette — who made it to state the past two years with doubles partner Claire Southard — was happy to pick up a win, and expressed her admiration for Harris.
“It’s always a tough match and Anelle’s a good opponent,” Gullette said, “but you always still want to win and get points for your team, so I’m glad I could do that.”
Gullette’s point would be the Bulldogs’ only one, as the Indians took the remainder of Tuesday’s matches.
“I’m so proud of my girls,” Kennett coach Janet Hilburn said. “We battled the heat last week during practices and we just worked as hard as we could through that heat. We had to take lots of breaks because of the heat index and things like that. I couldn’t be more proud of my varsity and JV today.”
Harris and her doubles partner Audrey Phillips topped Gullette and Amina Hussein in No. 1 doubles, winning 8-4.
“We were feeling confident after doubles,” Harris said. “We started out a little rough but we pulled it together. Sometimes we do come out of the gate slow, but we’ll end up finishing. Our mental toughness is pretty good there.”
Hilburn was proud of Harris and Phillips’ doubles victory because the Indians had been focusing on other aspects of the game ahead of Tuesday’s match.
“I couldn’t say enough about them,” Hilburn said. “We have not gotten to play as much doubles since the first of the season because we’ve just been working on singles, getting in shape and getting back into the routine of things. They got us started and all my doubles got a good jumpstart to a great win.”
Despite losing in her singles matchup with Gullette, Harris held her head high.
“I’m not too defeated,” Harris said. “She played really good today. She’s a good competitor and I always like playing her. I just don’t think I played my best today, but we’ll get to play each other, probably two more times at least.
“It’ll be a good match, and I’m not backing down.”
Ryan felt her team wasn’t as well prepared as it could have been, and admitted Hussein was feeling under the weather on Tuesday.
“We were very poor in serving, and that’s what we always think of as our strong point,” Ryan said. “We really work a lot on serving, and they weren’t steady enough getting the balls back in play. They certainly don’t lack heart. They all played their hardest, but they just didn’t have it today.
“(Amina) has some kind of dietary problems. She has a lot of headaches, so she’s working on getting through that. She played through a really tough match today. She wasn’t feeling well going out there.”
Although the Indians would come out on top, Hilburn said her team was nervous heading into Tuesday’s contest because of Notre Dame’s reputation.
“We were still battling nerves because we know what a powerhouse Notre Dame is,” Hilburn said. “We knew that we were going to have to be at our best to be able to compete with Notre Dame, and we ended up coming out and winning the match.”
The Bulldogs will play at home again Wednesday against Arcadia Valley, while Kennett will again be on the road at Charleston.
Kennett 8, Notre Dame 1
Singles
No. 1 singles — Megan Gullette (ND) def. Anette Harris (K), 8-4
No. 2 singles — Audrey Phillips (K) def. Amina Hussein (ND), 8-4
No. 3 singles — Handley McAtee (K) def. Suna Mungee (ND), 8-1
No. 4 singles — Christi Tejeda (K) def. Emma Marshall (ND), 8-2
No. 5 singles — Macy Bazzell (K) def. Katherine Moon (ND), 8-6
No. 6 singles — Malea Lack (K) def. Emily Fehr (ND), 8-1
Doubles
No. 1 doubles — Harris/Phillips (K) def. Gullette/Hussein (ND), 8-4
No. 2 doubles — McAtee/Tejeda (K) def. Mungee/Moon (ND), 8-4
No. 3 doubles — Bazzell/Lack (K) def. Marshall/Fehr (ND), 9-7