The Lady Tigers tennis team reached another milestone in what is shaping up as a milestone year. Republic won the Nixa Tournament for the first time ever Friday, capturing championships in the #1 singles flight (Kaitlyn Snyder) and in #2 doubles (Carly McAtee and Hannah Morgan).
The Republic JV squad also won a championship at the Lebanon JV Tournament.
Coach Dan Vales submitted this summary of the day:
Flight #1 Singles: Kaitlyn won her first two rounds over Aurora and Ozark. In the finals, Kaitlyn played Brooke Buehler of Clever for the championship. Brooke was seeded #2 (Kaitlyn #1) and is also a very strong player. Brooke got off to a fast start, taking a 6-3 lead. When Brooke reached 6, both players starting walking to the net to shake hands and thought the match was over (In previous rounds, players were playing to 6 no ad. For the finals, coaches agreed to play 8 no ad.). But, coaches quickly stopped the girls from shaking and the match resumed.
With a new life, Kaitlyn used it as inspiration to pick up her game. Kaitlyn rattled off the next five games in a row to win the match 8-6! Kaitlyn is currently 19-1 on the year. The last Republic girl to win the #1 singles draw at the Nixa Tournament was Samantha Minor.
Flight #2 Singles: In her first round match against Forsyth, Katie Stiles had to deal with a steady drizzle of rain. Instructed to not make any sharp cuts, Katie navigated through it to win 6-3. In round 2, Katie won 6-3 over Ozark to clinch another tournament finals birth for Katie. In the finals, Katie played Jennifer Hardy of Nixa, who has been Nixa’s #1 or #2 ranked player all year. Jennifer started strong with a 6-1 lead. Katie fought back though and ended up losing 8-6. As the #4 ranked player for Republic, that was a great showing for Katie and maybe her best match of the year (despite the loss).
Flight #1 Doubles: Jordyn Gianopulos and Isabella Freeman were paired up for the first time this year. In round 1, Jordyn/Isabella defeated Aurora 6-1. In round 2, Republic fell to a tough team from Forsyth 6-3. In the finals, Republic rebounded to beat Nixa 6-2 to earn a third-place finish. Jordyn and Isabella’s third-place clinched the overall team title on the day for Republic.
Flight #2 Doubles: Carly McAtee and Hannah Morgan paired up for flight #2 doubles. Carly and Hannah started the day with a quick win over Webb City. Even though they played a different pairing from Webb City, it was a nice bit of redemption from their doubles loss against WC on Thursday. In the semi-finals, Republic defeated Forsyth again in quick fashion to reach the finals. In the finals, Republic was again matched up to play Nixa. Hannah and Carly started strong and never let Nixa in the match- finishing the day with an 8-2 win to earn first place medals.
Lebanon JV Tournament
Republic picked up two 7-2 wins in pool play to set up a finals appearance against Lebanon. In the finals, play started with doubles and Republic was down 2-1. But Republic rallied during singles play to clinch the overall team win and tournament championship.
The JV participants for the Lebanon tourney was a mix of experienced and new players for Republic. Seniors Destini Brooks, Taylor Sanders, Bethany Overturf and Emily Wills dominated their singles opponents all day. Mean time, first-year players Elsie Crawford, Caytlin Peltz, Abbi McCord, Makaylee Doza, Sedalia Shumaker, Anna Davidson, and Olivia Cox all gained valuable experience and contributed to the team win.