The lady hornets varsity tennis team began their post-season play on Thursday. First up, the top two singles players and the top two doubles pairs competed individually against the eight other schools in the Class 1, District 8 brackets. This one-day individual tournament consisted of Chillicothe, Cameron, Benton, Excelsior Springs, Lafayette, Maryville, Richmond, Savannah, and Trenton. This made the brackets an 18-entry setup in both singles and doubles, which is over two times larger than the district brackets for the last decade. MSHSAA took away sectionals from Class 1 tennis this year, causing this doubling of district sizes, and this led to half as many district champions throughout the state. The tournament is also now set up as a single-elimination bracket where only the top two finishers move on directly to State, which led to heightened emotions for all athletes.
Senior Micah Crowe entered the tournament as Chillicothe’s highest-ranked player and chose to compete in singles. In her first match, she faced off against Savannah’s lowest singles player where Crowe forcefully won both sets. Sets rarely exist in Missouri girls high school tennis, so Crowe had not experienced this longer match format since the postseason last year. While she clearly commanded that first match, it was still a full hour on the court to win both sets. Then, she found herself face-to-face with her ongoing Maryville nemesis, Jaycee Elston, who she played twice last year and three times this year, and everyone knows their matches are always dead-even battles. The Chillicothe and Maryville coaches gave each other a glance, knowing they were in for the long-haul in this quarterfinal match, especially as the thermometer passed 80 degrees under a sweltering sun. They were right. Crowe and Elston battled for over two hours! Every point ranged from a 5-20 hit rally. Crowe handily took the first set 6-3, but unfortunately, she lagged in the heat of the second set and lost it 2-6. This led to a sudden death, 10-point tiebreak. With a five-minute rest, a snack, and hydration, Crowe bounced up ready to fight one last time against this common foe. She controlled the entire tiebreak never giving up the lead and finally won 10-5! This guaranteed Crowe a district medal and a spot in the district final four. Next up, she saw another common opponent in Trenton’s Astrid Soriano. After the preceeding long battle, Crowe did not have much left in the tank for that semi-finals match, and the soon-to-be district champion Soriano beat Crowe quickly 6-0, 6-0. That left the consolation 3rd place match to determine final medals. Crowe walked onto the court announcing to her parents and coach, “I want this one. I’m gonna fight for it.” However, that final match started roughly with Crowe down 1-2, then down 1-4, then down 2-5, and then still down 3-6 at each changeover even though her new Savannah opponent was throwing up in the corner of the court due to heat exhaustion. Yet, both players refused to forfeit. Suddenly, Crowe figured out the strategy that worked against Savannah’s odd style of playing mid-court in every point, and Crowe began chipping away at the deficit. She went on to win 6 of her next 7 games, squeaking out her most difficult career win 9-7! It was a spectacular finish to a crowning day of play for Chillicothe’s #1 senior.
While Crowe played the best day of tennis in her life, the rest of her teammates had a very strong showing as well. Coach Chambers confirmed that all five of her other players fought their hardest and represented CHS well. Senior Keonnia Morgan played a 1.5 hour singles match against Maryville’s #2 player to start the morning that consisted of two very long sets and almost went to a tiebreak, but she came up just short of the win. Fellow seniors Bianca Clark and Keeley Shira had a dominant showing in their first match of the day against Benton’s top pair, winning quickly and easily with strong net play and great serving. However, in their second match, they faced off with the #1 bracket seed, Savannah’s Fischer and Moore, who have been unbeatable this year by anyone from Class 1. Clark and Shira played their very best tennis, hitting wicked net shots again, but it was not enough to overcome Fischer and Moore’s strong pairing. Finally, newbies Lydia Bonderer and Lexy Smith got their first postseason tennis experience. In their first match, they played right next to Clark and Shira, also against a Benton pair. Bonderer and Smith controlled that entire match as well, and they left the court fired up to fight for more. In their second match, they played the #2 seed for the day from Excelsior Springs, who Chillicothe last saw at Sectionals in 2023 when former seniors Washburn and Garr played them for a chance to reach State. They knew it would be a tough match, but they fought hard. The first set finished quickly as Bonderer and Smith adjusted to such high-level players. However, the second set was dead even, back and forth. The pair hoped to take them to a championship tiebreak, but they came up just short of winning that critical second set. This experience motivated them for big goals in the years to come.
While no athlete is moving on in the postseason individually, the team’s postseason journey begins on Monday night at Danner Park when the team faces Benton at 3:30 PM. The lady hornets hope lots of Chillicothe fans will come cheer them on to victory in the district quarterfinals!
Score results were as follows:
Crowe beat Prather of Savannah 6-1, 6-3; Crowe beat Elston of Maryville 6-3, 2-6, tiebreak 10-5; Crowe lost to Soriano of Trenton 0-6, 0-6; Crowe beat Mallen of Savannah 9-7
Morgan lost to Quinlin of Maryville 1-6, 5-7
Clark & Shira beat Martinez & Smith of Benton 6-4, 6-0; Clark & Shira lost to Fischer & Moore of Savannah 1-6, 0-6
Bonderer & Smith beat Guyer & Kretzer of Benton 6-0, 6-0; Bonderer & Smith lost to Stodden & Tedesco of Excelsior Springs 2-6, 4-6
