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A competitive first effort fell short for the Nebraska City tennis team Tuesday in a 7-2 home dual loss against Ralston.

The Pioneers picked up singles victories at No. 4 and No. 5 singles from Briyi Valquier and Lucy Windle.

Other Pioneer players were competitive in games, but were not able to sustain that effort.

“The games were competitive early on�”even the ones we lost,” Coach Kent Heckman said.

Ralston was led by seniors at the top three singles positions in Taylor Flairty, Kortney Kosiski and Kirsten Placzek.

Flairty and Kosiski teamed at No. 1 doubles while Placzek played at No. 2 doubles.

Lena Linkey, an exchange student attending Lourdes, was competitive with Flairty at No. 1 singles.

Linkey took a number of games to deuce and stood in a 4-4 tie with Flairty at one point before falling 8-4.

Other Pioneer singles players from Tuesday were Katie Curtis, No. 2; Victoria McCord, No. 3; and Raquel Ojeda, No. 6.

Curtis and McCord teamed at No. 1 doubles, while Jill Ritchie and Windle teamed at No. 2 doubles. Valquier and Ojeda played No. 3 doubles, losing by a close score of 9-7.

Coach Heckman said the first outing for the Pioneers was positive in that the team played hard, showed great sportsmanship and picked up some idea of areas where more work is required in order to garner more success.

“We did a good job of getting after it and playing hard,” Heckman said.

Heckman said the team would continue to drill in practice on stroke technique, court movement, and shot selection.

Nebraska City was scheduled to return to action for a dual at Omaha Roncalli on Thursday.