After the Missouri State High School Athletics Association extended girls tennis by an additional week this season to make seasons equal by Title IX standards, Coach Chambers sought out one new team dual to add to the final week of play before districts began. Thankfully, the new, eager Moberly coach was glad to add another dual as well. While Chillicothe doesn’t travel toward mid-Missouri for sports very often, typically heading west and southwest, this drive was shorter than the typical Maryville drive, and both coaches found the night very worthwhile. And even though the team score ended fairly lopsided, all of the matches were very evenly matched. This will likely remain a scheduling plan every year.
The night started off with a resounding #3 doubles win from newcomers Lydia Bonderer and Lexy Smith. However, the lady hornets then dropped the other two doubles matches for varsity. Next up, the team also dropped two singles matches before Keonnia Morgan fought hard through long rallies to earn another team win, bringing the total to 2 for Chillicothe versus 4 for Moberly. Unfortunately, the hornets would not see another win for the rest of the night and eventually left with a score of 2-7. This leaves the CHS girls tennis team with a final regular season record of 7-10. On Wednesday, the team was officially seeded third in the team district bracket in a field of nine teams, so those duals will begin on Monday night at home in Danner Park.
Results tonight were as follows:
#1 Doubles Bianca Clark & Keeley Shira lost to Hadley Clevenger & Karlie McGee 2-8
#2 Doubles Jasmine McLean and Summer Gatson lost to Lauryn Snodgrass & Lylah Shannon 4-8
#3 Doubles Lydia Bonderer & Lexy Smith beat Addison Orscheln & Syia Covert 8-2
#1 Singles Micah Crowe lost to Clevinger 6-8
#2 Singles Keonnia Morgan beat Snodgrass 8-4
#3 Singles Bianca Clark lost to McGee 2-8
#4 Singles Keeley Shira lost to Orscheln 2-8
#5 Singles Jasmine McLean lost to Shannon 2-8
#6 Singles Sarah George lost to Covert 4-8
JV added on to the dual last minute, so CHS only fielded five girls. But each player got to play three or more times for great personal development and lots of success. JV results were as follows:
Lexi Lybarger & Leighton Kelly beat April Rodriquez & Ryleigh Welch 6-1
Lybarger & Kelly beat Annelle Hall & Hayley Adam 6-2
Lybarger & Kelly beat Teagan Watkins & Grace Mefford 6-1
Kelly beat Shelby Hayes 6-0
Gatson beat Breanne Gibbs 6-5
Gatson beat Ruby Owen 6-4
Rylee Rempel & Mackenzie Bagley beat Allyson Vestal & Valen Bennett 6-4
Rempel & Bagley lost to Kalynn Rae & Lynley Turnbough 4-6
Rempel & Bagley beat Zoe Mudd & Alena Bradford 6-5
