MARQUETTE — The Escanaba Eskymos girls’ tennis team won the Great Northern Conference Tournament to bring the GNC title back home to Escanaba Wednesday afternoon in Marquette.

“The team really came to play today,” said Eskymos coach Chris Ogren. “We made it to 7 out of 8 finals and were able to win three of them. The 3 teams that won it all were (Nos.) 1 singles, 1 doubles and 2 doubles.

The three matches Escanaba won were at No. 1 singles (Sophia Derkos), No. 1 doubles (Gracie Wickham-Abby Hill) and No. 2 doubles (Erica Moore-Delaney McIntyre).

“Sophia Derkos played tremendously, while only losing 3 games total, on her way to a big time win at No. 1 singles,” said Ogren. “Addison Trombley was hitting the ball very well for Gladstone, but Sophia was dialed in. It was a great match.”

Moore and McIntyre kept an undefeated season alive at No. 2 doubles with their wins during the tournament while Hill and Wickham also put in a nice showing according to Ogren.

“(Moore and McIntyre) have been playing well all year, but they really battled well today,” he commented. “Also winning their flight today were Abby Hill and Gracie Wickham. They were able to win three straight matches, with two of them going the full 3 sets.

The No. 1 doubles finals pitted Hill and Wickham against Menominee’s Kennedy Olson and Anna Nerat, a pairing they had lost to twice prior in the season.

When it was all over, though, Hill and Wickham had gotten the job done to take the win.

“It was the last match going, and it was intense the whole way through,” said Ogren. “These two have put in so much time and effort this year and I was overjoyed to see them pull through and win the biggest match of their season.

“I could go on and on about every girl on this team because they all played just so well today.”

Escanaba also had four second place finishes with Natalie Williams (No. 2 singles), Lizzy Sliva (No. 3 singles), Sam Manninen (No. 4 singles), and the No. 4 doubles team of Lily Newhouse and Paxton Bullen. No. 3 doubles duo Leslie Purcell and Sonya Maki, were able to win a close 3-set match to finish 3rd in their flight.

“It was great to win this tournament today, but we have more work to do to be ready for some big matches next week,” said Ogren.