Parental influence has made a positive impact on Brainerd Warrior girls tennis players Brooke Mimmack and Ashley Fitterer.
Mimmack's father, Ken, played four years of tennis at Colorado College and her mother, Joan, played at Minnetonka High School. Fitterer's father Taylor, played tennis at Brainerd High School. Her mother, Laurie, played at Burnsville High School and at the University of North Dakota.
Both sets of parents introduced their daughters to the game at young ages and encouraged them to pursue the lifetime sport competitively.
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Brooke Mimmack
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- Sport: Tennis
- Position: No. 1 doubles
- Year: Junior
- Age: 16
- Height: 5-7
- Other sports: Hockey, softball
- Career highlight: Winning subsection doubles title in 2013, finishing third in 2013 section doubles tournament
- Grade-point average: 4.0
- Favorite class: Science
- Favorite foods: Salad, pasta
- Favorite TV shows: "The Voice," "America's Got Talent," "Tennis Channel"
- Favorite website: Twitter
- Hobbies: Sports, being with friends
- Future plans: Attend college, play tennis
- Favorite tennis player: Serena Williams
- Parents: Ken and Joan Mimmack
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Reid Mimmack, Brooke's oldest brother, was a football, hockey, baseball standout for the Warriors. Her middle brother Alex, played tennis for a while before focusing on football and hockey.
"My dad was egging me on to play and now I'm the only one (in the family)," Brooke said. "I'm kind of like his little angel in tennis. He influenced me a lot. ... When he wants to play, that's when we're playing."
Fitterer and her younger sister, Payge, have been smitten by the game. Payge plays No. 3 singles for the Warriors.
"Brooke and I practiced last Sunday and it was just us two with our dads," Ashley said. "(Both sets of parents) have definitely given us that momentum to keep pushing ourselves to do better. We definitely have goals and they're trying to help us to get those."
Mimmack and Fitterer, both juniors, are in their second season as the Brainerd Warriors' No. 1 doubles team. Last year they won the North Subsection 8-2A championship and just missed qualifying for state, losing to a St. Cloud Tech tandem in a tiebreaker in the Section 8-2A true-second match.
This season they won their first eight matches. Among those first eight victories were the No. 1 doubles title at the Delano tournament and going 3-0 in the Camp Lake Hubert tournament. During that stretch they also beat No. 1 teams from Fergus Falls and Willmar.
"We opened with Delano," Mimmack said. "We got rocked by them last year so we were on our toes this time. We needed to beat them. We knew it was going to be our biggest match of the tournament. If we could get past them, we knew we could do it.
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Ashley Fitterer
- Sport: Tennis
- Position: No. 1 doubles
- Year: Junior
- Age: 17
- Height: 5-6
- Other sports: Alpine skiing
- Career highlight: Winning subsection doubles title in 2013, competing in 2014 Alpine ski meet
- Grade-point average: 4.0
- Favorite class: Science
- Favorite food: Pineapple
- Favorite movie: "Miracle"
- Favorite TV show: "Grey's Anatomy" & "Gossip Girl"
- Hobbies: Spending time on the lake, wake surfing, snow skiing
- Future plans: Attend college, play tennis or ski
- Favorite athlete: World Cup Alpine ski racer Mikaela Shiffrin
- Parents: Taylor and Laurie Fitterer
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"It was a tough battle. We went into a tiebreaker. Everyone was talking about us at that tournament. We've set our standards high so we needed to win."
In the Camp Lake Hubert event, one of the highlights for Fitterer-Mimmack was beating Thief River Falls.
"Last year they were definitely a tough match for us," Fitterer said. "This year, we were down 1-4 in the third tiebreaker and by that point mentally you have to really keep positive in order to win. We came back and won that one."
On Sept. 4, Mimmack-Fitterer suffered their first loss, 6-2, 7-6 (7-0) against Alexandria's Kim and Kerri Wilkins.
"(Alexandria) just got some new courts, 12 of them," Mimmack said, "and we were playing in the middle courts. I don't want to make excuses, but there were absolutely no wind screens around there. We felt like we were in the middle of the ocean. It was so windy.
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"Something just wasn't clicking mentally. We were not moving our feet. We just didn't feel right."
Two days later, Fitterer and Mimmack won three of four matches and finished second in the Brainerd Invite. They lost to Glencoe Silver Lake's No. 1 team of seniors Piper Davis-Rachel Rusten 7-6, 6-2.
"That was our fourth match," Fitterer said of Glencoe. "Not to make excuses, but we were tired after a long week. For some reason something wasn't clicking for us. We're trying to move beyond that now."
Fitterer-Mimmack suffered their third loss of the season, 6-3, 6-1, Tuesday against St. Cloud Tech's Katie Williams-Sam Eisenreich. They stand 11-3 for the season.
"I just think in every athlete's career you experience some hills that you've got to climb," Fitterer said. "We've been kind of on a bumpy road for the last week or so."
Warriors coach Lisa Salo said Mimmack-Fitterer are a successful doubles team because they understand the game, can execute a variety of shots and are strong players individually.
"They have doubles experience, for a number of years with each other, but at times they've played with other people," Salo said. "They had the opportunity last year to get some pressure-packed doubles experience as far as section and subsection play. That only fuels the fire with them. They want more."
Salo also believes the experiences Fitterer-Mimmack receive in their other sports benefits them in tennis. Fitterer is an Alpine skier. Mimmack is a hockey and softball player.
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"They don't shy away from competition," Salo said. "I think that comes from their experience in their other sports. The experience Ashley had with their section (Alpine skiing) competition and how they finished, going to state, that's huge. Brooke's in hockey and softball and those different experiences only make her stronger.
"They love to compete. They don't take anybody for granted. They know they've got to go out and compete each time."
Other notable efforts:
• Megan Tschida, girls soccer, shut out Watertown-Mayer, Apollo and Fergus Falls.
• Tedi Ramberg, volleyball, recorded 32 kills in seven matches at the Mabel-Canton tournament.
• Bryn Waters, girls soccer, had a hat trick vs. Apollo and Willmar.
• Ally Smith and Angela Lacy, girls soccer, scored hat tricks vs. Willmar.
• Fallon Ryan, swimming, won two events and was on two winning relays vs Tech, Bemidji and Alexandria.
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• Katie Streiff, swimming, won two events and was on two winning relays vs Tech and Bemidji.
• Hannah McKeag, , won two events and was on two wining relays vs Tech and vs Alexandria.
