Despite frigid temperatures and 30 mph winds Saturday, the Lady Panthers were anything but cold.
Monteumza-Cortez High School lit up visiting Hotchkiss and Paonia, 6-1 and 7-0, completing a home sweep at the Jim Harkendorff Tennis Courts.
"I think this might be one of the best teams that Cortez has seen here," Lady Panthers coach Dan Wood said. "We lost one match to two opponents. The best thing we did was we overcome the toughest opponent - the wind and the cold."
M-CHS has now won three of four varsity matches this season. Saturday certainly didn't come easy battling the weather elements.
Hitting with the wind was key.
"I just went out there and just tried to adjust the ball to wherever I needed to, just so the wind wouldn't take it away," Sadee Threlkeld said. "You kind of have to force with the wind, so that whenever it blows, it will blow the ball in (bounds) where you want it to be."
Threlkeld went 2-0 on the day at No. 2 singles. She knocked off Hotchkiss' Mariah Chermak, 6-3, 6-1, and downed Paonia's Tyler Raple, 6-1, 6-2.
"You're not just battling the opponent, you're also battling the wind when it comes to days like this," Threlkeld said. "I'm feeling super good. I'm just hoping that whenever we go up to (Delta) to play them again, I'll be able to do like I did today and not have the wind be a factor."
The Lady Panthers also continued their dominant doubles play. Jessica Quinonez and Jaci Veach remain undefeated at No. 2 doubles. But it didn't come without some adversity.
The M-CHS duo lost 4-6 in the first set to Bree Vennoy and Tisay Lehman of Hotchkiss. Quinonez and Veach bounced back with a convincing 6-1 second set win, which setup the tiebreaker.
It was tight for a while, but the Lady Panthers pulled through, winning 10-7
"The wind blew a lot of our shots out. It was (key) to not hit it so hard, to play with the wind," Quinonez said.
"You have to figure out which direction the wind's blowing," Veach added.
Kristin Parker returned from an illness to go 2-0 at No. 1 singles, including a thrilling 7-5, 7-3 win against Paonia's Annavah Kropp.
"She came back and played well," Wood said about Parker.
Nicole Demby posted a 2-0 mark at No. 3 singles as well.
Emily Walck and Mary Wright kept their perfect record intact at No. 1 doubles going 2-0. The No. 4 doubles team of Tara Adams and Samantha Woyedwodzic also went 2-0, and Kearra Boggs and Tori Calliham were 1-1 at No. 3 doubles.
"It was good tennis. I'm really proud of the girls," Wood said.
M-CHS hosts Miyamura, of Gallup, N.M., on Friday at 3 p.m. The Lady Panthers defeated Miyamura 6-1 in Gallup on March 16.
bobbya@cortezjournal.com.