Lady Eagles Battle Through Deep Field at Goodland Meet
September 13, 2025
The Colby High School Lady Eagles tennis team continued its season Saturday in Goodland, competing against a tough field that included Ulysses, Victoria, Hays, and Tribune-Greeley County. While the Eagles are still searching for consistency in the early part of the year, the meet offered valuable growth opportunities and flashes of strong play across both singles and doubles courts.
Head coach Wendy Weishaar said this year brings both new challenges and exciting opportunities.
“The biggest challenge this year is to deal with the sheer number of girls we have out for tennis,” Weishaar explained. “We usually have around 13 or 14 girls, and this season we’re up in the 20s. It’s really exciting—all of the energy they bring, learning new things, discovering things they didn’t know they could do, and now becoming masters of.”
In #1 Singles, Katelynn Diederich led the way for Colby. She opened with a convincing 6-0 win over Isabella Cadavid of Garden City’s Cowgirls, before falling in her second match against Ulysses’ Corley McCormick 6-2. Diederich bounced back later in the day, battling Victoria’s Anna-Marie Marsell before dropping a hard-fought 6-2 contest. Despite the mixed results, her determination stood out.
“Katelynn is really stepping up as a singles player,” Weishaar said. “She’s learning so much every time she goes to a tournament. I have no doubt by the end of the season she will really have learned more about the strategy and timing that singles takes to be successful.”
At #2 Singles, Molly Norman fought through a challenging draw. She fell 6-2 in her opener against Cowgirls standout Kylee Welch, then faced a strong 6-0 setback to Ulysses’ Jayleen Casas. In her final match, Norman competed well against Victoria’s Piper Nowlin, dropping a 6-0 set but showing improvement in rally play.
Colby’s doubles teams also saw a mix of results. The #1 pairing of Anjali Balbuena and Bella Castaneda opened with a dominant 6-0 win, but met stiff competition in later rounds, dropping matches to Victoria (6-2) and Colby’s own rotating pairings. At #2 Doubles, Yatzy Barazza and Heidi Gray proved to be one of Colby’s steadiest duos, claiming an impressive 7-0 win in their opener and finishing strong with a 6-2 victory in the final round over Victoria’s Preslyn Dreiling and Kamryn Bliss.
Overall, Weishaar emphasized that the meet was another step in a season focused on development.
“We’re having a little bit of a slow start to the season,” she said. “Trying to figure out who we’re going to pair as doubles teams and singles players is a process, since pretty much our top seven or eight girls have been doubles players in the past. But some girls are stepping up and learning quickly.”
The Lady Eagles will look to build on their lessons from Goodland as they prepare for their next stretch of tournaments, where experience and consistency will continue to shape their lineup.