By MIKE KEMMETER
of The Gazette
MADISON - For the first time in school history, a girls tennis player from Stevens Point Area Senior High School stepped onto the podium at the WIAA State Tennis Tournament.
Lauren Hom, a sophomore, entered the tournament with the No. 15 seed but worked her way through the bracket and finished fifth at No. 1 singles. Her run ended with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory in the fifth-place match over sixth seed Elizabeth Winchester of Madison West.
"I was trying to make a name for SPASH and myself," Hom said. "The seeds really didn't matter. I had a great draw."
While the fifth-place match was big, it was her first match on Saturday morning that meant the most. After falling in the quarterfinals Friday evening, Hom faced Margie VanLieshout of Oshkosh North Saturday morning. The winner of the match would stand on the podium and the loser would go home.
Hom had never beaten VanLieshout in three previous meetings but did when it counted the most, winning 6-1, 4-6, 6-2.
"I knew I could beat her. It didn't faze me," Hom said.
"She had a game plan and stayed with the game plan," SPASH coach Nancy Schmidt said. "You could see in the third set she was confident, focused and determined."
In the fifth-place match, Hom adjusted after losing the first set and dominated the third and deciding set.
"After she had lost the first set, she knew she could beat this girl," Schmidt said. "She had confidence that she would win."
Hom said she decided she had to hit the ball harder in order to beat Winchester. "If I tapped it, I knew she would blow me away," she said. "She's a good player."
In Friday's action, Hom opened with a 6-4, 6-0 victory over Lindsay Imhoff of Madison East 6-4, 6-0. She followed with a two-set win over freshman Stacy Schuerman of Kettle Moraine (25-1) 7-5, 6-2. In the even match, she lost to No. 4 seed Elin Amerson of Waukesha West (fourth seed) 6-2, 6-0.
The Hom family isn't a stranger to the medal stand at state. Lauren's older brother, Michael, finished third as a junior and fourth as a senior in the WIAA Boys State Tennis Tournament. By reaching the podium as a sophomore, Lauren has bragging rights in the family. "I actually got to the podium before my brother," she said.
Schmidt said Hom's accomplishment means a lot for the program and for SPASH. "What an accomplishment for the school. It's encouragement for other players, other kids to shoot for that," she said. "An incredible day, just incredible. She played her heart out."