The Republic tennis team put an exclamation point on a busy and successful week Friday, dominating the competition and winning its home tournament for the first time ever. The Lady Tigers won the Republic Tournament by winning first place in #1 singles (Elsie Crawford), #1 doubles (Abby McCord and Morgan Lewis), and #2 doubles (Ashlyn Leonard and Mia Stan). Jasmine Howard made it to the finals of the #2 singles bracket, finishing second.
Crawford didn’t even lose a game until the finals, which she won 8-1.
Lewis and McCord gutted out two close victories to win their bracket. After opening with an 8-0 win against Rogersville, they beat Springfield Catholic 9-7, then topped Forsyth in the championship match, in a tiebreaker, 9-8 (7-5).
In Flight 2 singles, Howard won her first two matches 8-0 and 8-1 before falling to Lila Griesemer of Springfield Catholic 8-1.
Leonard and Stan won their opener 8-1, followed that up with an 8-5 win over Rogersville, then knocked off Paige and Rylee Starnes of Springfield Catholic 8-3 for the bracket title.
The tournament victory capped a week in which Republic had already beaten three Central Ozark Conference opponents – Willard, Nixa, Joplin – on three consecutive days.
