KEOKUK- The Burlington Notre Dame Lady Nikes were coming off of their best match of the season where they fell just short against Davis County. On Friday night they were hoping to get into the win column against the Keokuk Lady Chiefs at the Keokuk Tennis Courts. Unfortunately, they weren’t able to do that losing 9-0.

In the No. 1 singles match, Burlington Notre Dame senior Paige Kramer went up against Keokuk’s best Nevaeh Logan and unfortunately, would lose in straight sets 6-0, 6-0. Liliana Anderson was up next for BND against freshman Berkley Boyd in the No. 2 singles position losing 6-0, 6-1. The closest match and best performer for the Lady Nikes of the night came in the No. 3 singles between Keokuk’s Baylee Picton and Jessee Pearson. Picton came out on top for the Lady Chiefs with a 6-3, 6-3 win. However, three games was the high mark for BND on the night. Meredith Willson was up next in No. 4 singles against Keokuk’s Lizzy Masson where she would fall 6-1, 6-0. London Mueller and Remi Snively won the No. 5 and No. 6 singles for Keokuk over Faith Gibb and Alen Franklin 6-0, 6-0 respectively. The one thing that Burlington Notre Dame head coach Kara Krieger is trying to instill in her team early in the season is belief in themselves.

“One thing I’m trying to do is put confidence in our girls,” she said. “Two of them have never played before so I’m trying to give them confidence and trust what they’ve been doing in practice. I’ve seen a lot of progress, especially in our game against Davis County that we had. Two of those matches we had to forfeit because we were short one player. If we would’ve had that player, we would’ve pulled out that win and that would’ve been huge for our team chemistry and morale. I hope we continue to build on that confidence going forward.

In doubles, BND couldn’t stop the momentum the Lady Chiefs had. Logan and Boyd were the No. 1 doubles combination against Kramer and Pearson. Keokuk won 8-0. The Lady Nikes used Anderson and Willson against Picton and Mason in the No. 2 doubles also falling 8-0. Gibb and Franklin ended the night for BND in the No. 3 doubles losing 8-4 against Mueller and Alex Sanchez.

Burlington Notre Dame now 0-4 on the season, travels to Muscatine High School for a match at 9 a.m. next Thursday.