Thursday evening, the Chillicothe girls’ tennis team lost its conference dual against the Benton lady cardinals team. The night was a close head-to-head matchup, but CHS let it slip through their fingers 4-5 at the end of the evening. The weather and courts were in perfect condition at Noyes’ Tennis Complex when the teams faced off. Chillicothe was missing their typical #5 player Bianca Clark due to illness. However, juniors Keonnia Morgan and Keeley Shira both stepped up big in the #5 and #6 spots by winning all three of their matches in doubles and singles. Coach Chambers was proud of how these girls, who typically just play one varsity match each night, both handled the pressure and brought in multiple wins for the team on a tough night. Isabella Garr also collected a solid singles win for the team thanks, in part, to her stellar serving.
The lady hornets fall to 2-2 in MEC play for the season and 4-6 overall. The team has seen great success in their tournament play this year, but tournaments do not count in overall team records because the athletes compete individually in their own brackets rather than as a team. Coach Chambers still feels good about the team’s prospects regarding Team Districts in just over two weeks as well as individual goals for post-season success in doubles and singles because she has seen what the partnerships can do in tournament play.
Varsity results were as follows:
Rylee Washburn and Isabella Garr lost to Madeline Burright & Bella Thomas 4-8.
Bryton BeVelle and Micah Crowe lost to Kendall Buntin & Viviona Woodson 3-8.
Keonnia Morgan and Keeley Shira beat Maria Stocking & Audrey O’Rourke 8-2.
Washburn lost to Burright 4-8.
Garr beat Buntin 8-4.
BeVelle lost to Thomas 5-8.
Crowe lost to Woodson 1-8.
Morgan beat Stocking 8-0.
Shira beat O’Rourke 8-5.
The junior varsity tennis team had an outstanding night against Benton, ending 5-1 overall as a team. All players looked strong in their JV matches with consistent serving and longer rallies than the beginning of the season. JV results were as follows:
Summer Gatson & Rian Mathews beat Kenna Guyer & Alyssa Martinez 6-1.
Sarah George & Lexi Lybarger beat Riley Kretzer & Lorena Ramos 6-3.
Jasmine McLean & Sarah Boon beat Chloe Hall & Karmen Philips 6-0.
Sophia Littleton & Anya Moore beat Briana Martinez & Kamryn Bass 6-1.
Trixie Leppin & Arisha Shafiq beat two Benton opponents 6-4.
Kierra Williams & Leighton Kelly lost to two Benton opponents 3-6.
