On a beautiful fall morning last Saturday, the Chillicothe lady hornets tennis team started a new JV tournament, which they intend to make an annual event. Coach Chambers said it was a wonderful event where younger players got their first-ever opportunities to play in team dual format like they will someday on varsity. All of the coaches involved strive to help develop more depth in their programs with young athletes knowledgeable of and eager for varsity success. It is always a new experience for JV players to learn to play doubles and singles in the same day, to have the stamina for that, to play longer sets, and to care about a team score instead of just individuals. Savannah JV and Moberly JV both participated in the triangular. To start the morning, Savannah’s 7th-12th ranked players competed against Chillicothe’s same JV players in a 9-point team dual. Then, around lunchtime, Savannah faced off against Moberly in the same format. Finally, Chillicothe battled Moberly in the final team dual of the day.
The lady hornets were able to pick up one of the two team wins, finishing second on the day, led by newcomers Lydia Bonderer and Lexy Smith who both dominantly went 4-0 on the day. Additionally, Coach Chambers and Coach Pyrtle were proud to see all their girls rise to the occasion as every lady hornet earned at least one win on the day, especially in the tight dual when it was most needed. Rian Mathews and Lexi Lybarger fought hard through a tiebreak in one of their matches and battled back for tough singles wins in other matches. Anya Moore & Arisha Shafiq grabbed an important doubles win for the team with Shafiq’s powerful net play, and Moore clenched the team win with a come-from-behind singles win featuring the strongest, longest rallies she has ever played. Results were as follows:
Chillicothe JV lost to Savannah JV 3-6:
Mathews & Lybarger lost to Addyson Prather & Kaylea Farrell 6-6 (tiebreak 3-7)
Bonderer & Smith beat Annelise Forney & Natalie Farrell 6-2
Shafiq & Moore lost to Sydney Knorr & Scarlet Jones 3-6
Mathews lost to Prather 4-6
Lybarger lost to K. Farrell 1-6
Bonderer beat Forney 6-2
Smith beat N. Farrell 6-3
Shafiq lost to Knorr 0-6
Moore lost to Jones 1-6
Savannah JV beat Moberly JV 8-1:
Savannah won all matchups except for #1 JV Singles
Chillicothe JV beat Moberly JV 7-2:
Mathews & Lybarger lost to Breanne Gibbs & Ruby Owen 1-6
Bonderer & Smith beat April Rodriguez & Rhyleigh Welch 6-0
Shafiq & Moore beat Annelle Hall & Hayley Adam 6-4
Mathews beat Gibbs 6-4
Lybarger beat Owen 6-3
Bonderer beat Rodriguez 6-3
Smith beat Welch 6-1
Shafiq lost to Hall 2-6
Moore beat Adam 6-4
