ESCANABA — The Escanaba Eskymos continued their mastery of the doubles matches here Monday in a 7-1 girls’ tennis victory over the Gladstone Braves.

As they did a week ago in a 6-2 triumph at Gladstone, the Eskymos swept the doubles with senior Leslie Purcell and junior Samantha Manninen taking a 6-3, 6-4 decision from Lou Martinez and Reese Herioux on this very warm, breezy and humid day at Ludington Park.

“I like the heat personally,” said Purcell, who’s originally from Georgia. “I played in the heat down there through eighth grade. I’m used to this.”

Martinez and Herioux trailed 3-1 before several overhead shots helped them surge to a 4-3 lead.

“We were trying to stay positive,” said Purcell. “We tried to stay calm and not let get to us. They’re better than when we played them the first time.”

The Esky duo then took its turn converting on overhead shots while remaining unbeaten in four matches.

“Sometimes you have to get into another zone,” said Manninen. “We were pretty relaxed out there, maybe even a little too relaxed.”

Esky junior Sophia Derkos (4-0) also remained undefeated in a 6-1, 6-0 conquest of Addie Trombley in No. 1 singles on the high school courts.

“I was moving side to side,” she said. “It was hard to do overhead serves into the wind. We both got the ball back with the wind, and it sometimes blew the ball back at us. Gladstone has some good players. We get pretty excited when we play them.”

Sophomore Tia Schone provided the Braves with their lone victory, taking a 6-2, 6-0 decision from Sonya Maki at No. 2 singles on a day where the wind shifted from the south to the west at times.

“I think I got my serves in real well today,” said Schone, who also improved to 4-0. “Winning the first set takes a lot of pressure off you. Hitting into the wind is difficult, and when the ball stays in the air in a cross breeze, it sometimes takes a big curve. Seems like it’s always windy over here. I definitely relied more on groundstrokes.”

Maggie Martin added a victory over the Eskymos at No. 4 singles by rallying past Samara Sanville 3-6, 6-1, 6-3.

“It was a hot and windy day for our second meet of the year with Gladstone,” said Esky coach Jared Ogren. “Much like last time, we had several close matches, but today we were able to win one more than the first time. Seven of eight matches resulted in the same as the first meeting, but Maggie was able to reverse the result at No. 4 singles. Maggie has already been in several close matches this year and has shown that she doesn’t go away easily. If an opponent is going to beat Maggie this year, she’s going to need to settle in and play two hours of grueling tennis.”

Ogren was unable to see any of the doubles matches but said he was happy with the results.

“The results were good,” he added. “Sophia continued her strong season with another great performance against a really strong player in Addie Trombley. Sophia has been hitting the ball tremendously well this year, and she’s going to be difficult for anyone in the U.P. to beat.”

The Eskimos, who hosted Marquette Tuesday, are idle until Sept. 7 when they host West Iron County. The Braves host the Weakens Thursday.

Singles

No. 1 — Derkos, E, def. Trombley, 6-1, 6-0; No. 2 — Schone, G, def. Maki, 6-2, 6-0; No. 3 — VanDamme, E, def. Krouth, 6-2, 7-5; No. 4 — Martin, E, def. Sanville, 3-6, 6-1, 6-3.

Doubles

No. 1 — Smale-Williams, E, def. Barron-Buckley, 6-0, 6-0; No. 2 — Purcell-Manninen, E, def. Martinez-Herioux, 6-3, 6-4; No. 3 — Braun-Wagner, E, def. Nault-Hanson, 6-3, 6-4; No. 4 — Bowden-Hughes, E, def. Pendergraft-Drielick, 6-0, 6-0.