Due to the all-day rain on Friday in Kansas City, the Lady Hornet netters traveled to Liberty to play their annual JV tournament hosted by North KC but indoors at Clayview Genesis Club courts. The team was allowed three doubles entries, so players 7-12 traveled to this competition. The format was shortened to a Race-to-4 with only five courts to play on all day with over 70 matches needing played by the 20 teams attending. The A-Doubles Team of sophomore Halle Gabrielson & freshman Merlot Cooper played high-quality tennis, really moving and communicating well together, facing the toughest competition from other A-ranked teams of large KC schools. The B-doubles team of senior Suzannah Leifker and junior Rylee Rempel also played well together as they have all season but came up just short on each match as they started behind in each; with the shortened format, there just wasn’t time to battle back after getting in their groove. But the biggest excitement of the day came from sophomore Addison Fagan and freshman Camble Yuille in the C-doubles bracket. They were able to secure their first three matches on the day and clench a medal. While the semi-finals and consolation match both proved a bit too tough, they played the best of their careers to earn those hard-fought medals. Overall, the JV team finished 7th out of 20 schools who were all larger in size than Chillicothe.
Results were as follows:
A Doubles — Cooper & Gabrielson beat Ray-Pec 4-1, beat Raytown South 4-0, and lost to Blue Springs 1-4.
B Doubles — Rempel & Leifker lost to Lee’s Summit North 2-4, won by forfeit against Lincoln Prep, and lost to Staley High School 2-4.
C Doubles — Fagan & Yuille beat Liberty North 4-1, beat Liberty 4-1, beat Joplin 4-3, lost to Staley 1-4, lost to Lee’s Summit North 2-6 — 4th Place