Justin St. Ours | Daily Press Escanaba’s Jasmine Clark returns the ball against Menominee Thursday during a No. 1 singles match in Escanaba.

ESCANABA — The Escanaba girls tennis team split with the Menominee Maroons 4-4 here Thursday.

The Eskymos split in singles and doubles, taking two in singles and two in doubles. Escanaba’s easiest win came at No. 4 singles where Amber Yang earned a victory due to forfeit.

In No. 3 singles, Ukiah Penegor finished Bella Lavia in straight sets, 6-3, 7-5. Penegor kept ahead in the first set and traded off games. She had trouble at the beginning of the second set, falling behind 0-2 until fighting back to take two in a row to tie it. Both sides won one apiece to tie it at 3 before Lavia won two games in a row to lead 5-3. Penegor then found her groove and won three straight to finish the final set and take the match.

“Good matches all around today,” Esky coach Chris Ogren said. “Ukiah Penegor fought out a close win at No. 3 singles.”

Escanaba’s Maddy Ide and Alison Sommers came back at No. 1 doubles from a 4-3 deficit against Emma Anderson and Abbie Anglehart in the first set to win it 6-4. Ide-Sommers took an early 4-1 lead in the second set before Anderson-Anglehart recovered to win four straight games and lead 5-4, but Ide-Sommers refused to back down and took three straight games to win 7-6 (8-6).

“No. 1 doubles did a great job of winning a very closely contested match,” Ogren said.

Escanaba also won at No. 2 doubles, where Anna Branstrom and Laura Sliva took Menominee’s Lauren Caley-Nelson and Autumn Ericsson in straight sets, 6-0, 6-1.

The Maroons picked up victories in No. 1 and No. 2 singles.

Jenna Nolde of Menominee took Jasmine Clark in straight sets at No.1 singles, 6-2, 6-2, and Josie Hofer battled back in the second set to win over Escanaba’s Jacey Moreau, 6-2, 6-3. Hofer fell behind in the second set of the match, dropping three straight games to Moreau to trail 3-0. Hofer then rekindled her game to win six straight to take the match.

“We’re young and we just need to work on strokes and simple little things,” Maroons’ coach Nicki Mathieu said. “They’re doing very well.”

The Maroons also took control in No. 3 and No. 4 doubles. Menominee’s Meghan Francour and Rylie Doyle took down Escanaba’s Maddy Mishica and Gracie Wickham in two contested sets, 7-6, 6-4. Anna Nerat and Kennedy Olson of Menominee won a difficult match against the Eskymos’ Rylee Kuehl and Morgan Anderson, 7-6 (7-5), 7-5.

“No. 3 and No. 4 doubles both had really tight matches that didn’t go our way, but they played hard,” Ogren said. “Overall, these were two very evenly matched teams with many of the matches that could have gone either way.”

Mathieu was happy that her team was having fun gaining experience.

“We want the kids to have fun and just go out and do the best they can do and have fun and get a little better each time,” she said.

Esky resumes in the Kingsford Invitational this morning at 10 a.m. EDT.

Singles

No. 1 — Nolde, M, def. Clark, E, 6-2, 6-2; No. 2 — Hofer, M, def. Moreau, E, 6-2, 6-3; No. 3 — Penegor, E, def. Lavia, 6-3, 7-5; No. 4 — Yang, E, forefit.

Doubles

No. 1 — Ide-Sommers, E, def. Anderson-Anglehart, M, 6-4, 7-6(8); No. 2 — Branstrom-Sliva, E, def. Caley-Nelson-Ericsson, M, 6-0, 6-1, No. 3 — Francour-Doyle, M, def. Mishica-Wickham, E, 7-6, 6-4; No. 4 — Nerat-Olson, M, def. Kuehl-Anderson, E, 7-6 (7-5), 7-5.