Sandusky's Armstrong, Esposito first Blue Streaks to advance to girls tennis district since 2004

SANDUSKY — When Marissa Esposito and Alana Armstrong step onto the court Wednesday at Bowling Green State University in the Division I girls tennis district tournament, they'll be doing something that no Sandusky High School girl has done since 2004.The duo, who played singles during the regular season, finished second in doubles to Norwalk in the sectional at Fremont to advance to the district competition.The last Blue Streaks girl to qualify was Julie Mihalik 14 years ago as a singles player."When I heard that, it just made me so excited," Esposito said. "It made me so excited to see how everyone else was so excited about it, and I just felt really proud. Proud of (Alana) too, and us as a team."First-year coach Michele Mueller, a teacher at Mills Elementary School, hopes the success that Esposito, Armstrong and the Blue Streaks girls have had this season will help the program moving forward."Hopefully this will put it in a good light," she said. "It was awesome — it was an exciting moment."Since the girls were singles players during the regular season, playing doubles and working with a partner has been an adjustment for Armstrong and Esposito, but they've been working through it."The biggest adjustment would definitely be having one person at the net and one person back," Esposito said. "Because we're so used to us being back as singles players and not really going up to the net that much, so we've been adjusting to poaching the net more and just more things at the net. But I think that's our biggest adjustment, and communicating to each other."The two also have a good understanding of their strengths and how they can work well as a team."I think my strength is in being in the back and on the baseline, because I have speed," Esposito said. "So if Alana can't get to something, my strength is getting it for her and being able to be there for her, whether it's running back and forth. And I think Alana is strong at the net — she has some length on her compared to me, because I'm shorter.""I'm better at the net," Armstrong said. "I don't really like being up there, but Marissa's really strong with forehands and backhands, and I usually stay up at the net."Armstrong, who moved to Sandusky from the Dayton area and has been playing tennis since she was 3 years old, added that she and Esposito make it a point to communicate during matches."I really like playing doubles because we're a strong team and we communicate well," she said. "Sometimes we have the little issues, but we usually work it out and talk. We talk to each other after each point to see how we can improve."At sectionals, Armstrong and Esposito were seeded fourth and beat Ashland's No. 1 duo of Leah Miller and Laura Slabaugh (6-2, 6-4) to advance to the semifinals against Norwalk's Sela Berry and Mara Berry. They won that match (6-4, 3-6, 6-4) before falling to the top-seeded Truckers duo of Megan Berry and Jordan Gran in the final, 6-0, 6-4.The girls hope districts aren't the final stop this season. Both say their ultimate goal is to make it to state."It's been a really great season," Mueller said. "I'm really proud of the girls, especially these two. They came a lot further than what was expected and what was anticipated based on the beginning of the season." Sandusky's Alana Armstrong (left) and Marissa Esposito stand together at the Sandusky High School tennis courts. Last week, the duo finished second at the Division I sectional tournament to become the first Blue Streak girls to advance to districts in tennis since 2004.