Ark Valley News - Tennis team fares well in road meets

Tennis team fares well in road meets
By Randy Fisher
Last Updated: September 17, 2015

The Valley Center Hig School tennis team played in two tournaments last week. The Hornets were at Salina Central Sept. 12 and Wichita Collegiate Sept. 10.

At Salina Central, the Hornets scored 62 points and finished eighth out of 16 teams. They were seven points out of seventh place and eight points out of sixth. Ark City won the event with 118 points, followed by McPherson with 102 and Salina Central Maroon with 99.

"We will continue to work on improving our toughness and consistency," said coach Dean Schulz.

The Hornets' top finisher was the No. 1 doubles team of Rachel Binau and Jennifer Sharp, who went 4-1 for fifth. In singles, Carly Espinosa (No. 1) went 3-2 and finished 13th. No. 2 doubles team of Courtney Sayers and Jacque Toews were 2-2 to finish 21st. No. 2 singles player Elle Kabler was 2-3 for 23rd.

Binau and Sharp defeated Salina Central Maroon 8-4, beat Pittsburg 8-2 and lost to eventual champion Ark City 8-6. They bounced back to defeat two McPherson teams, 8-6 and 8-4, for fifth place.

"They played well most of the day," Schulz said. "They were down 0-4 against Ark City and suffered their only loss for the day 6-8."

Espinosa beat Karley Benson of Salina Central Black 8-5, lost to Raegan Wessel of Hutch 8-7 (3), lost to Tesa Wilcox of Salina South 8-5, beat Shelby Gudenkauf of McPherson 8-4 and beat Madison Loudermilk of Maize 8-3 for 13th.

"Carly played good but still needs to work on consistency," Schulz said.

Sayers and Toews lost to Salina Central Black 8-3, beat Hays 8-2, lost to Topeka West 8-4 and beat Salina South 8-5 to finish 21st.

"Sayers/Toews had good matches, but we need to be stronger by the end of the season," Schulz said.

Kabler lost to Ashley Sankey of Salina Central Maroon 8-2, beat Nicole Konopelko of Pittsburg 8-3, lost Brooke Forinash of Hays 8-1, lost Shannon Gary of Goddard 8-6 and beat Brooke Shirley of Salina Central White 8-7 (6) for 23rd.

"Elle did not play well most of the day," Schulz said. "Her game was just a little off."

At Collegiate, Valley Center tied with Andover Central for fourth place in the eight-team event. Collegiate won with 26 points, narrowly edging Andover with 25. Hutchinson was third,

At No. 2 singles, Chloe McNeil placed second. The No. 1 doubles team of Sayers and Toews was third. The other doubles team of Rachel Worman and Katie Youngers finished sixth. Abby Sheahan at No. 1 singles was eighth.

McNeil beat Andover Central 8-2 and Andover 8-6 before losing 8-6 to Hutch in the finals.

Sayers and Toews beat Maize 8-1, lost WCS 8-2 and beat Hutchinson 8-2 for third.

Worman and Youngers lost 8-4 Maize, beat Trinity 8-7 (4) and lost 8-3 to Kapaun Mount Carmel to finish sixth.

Sheahan lost 8-0 to Ark City, 8-4 to Maize 8-4 and 8-7 (11) to Kapaun Mount Carmel for eighth.

Valley's junior varsity played in tournaments Sept. 12 at home and Sept. 10 at Goddard.

Valley Center split into two teams, Purple and Gold, for its annual tournament Sept. 12. Both Hornet teams accumulated 25 points and tied for second. Eisenhower won the tournament with 32 points.

"Our two teams tied for second place overall," said coach Matt Klusener. "We had no direct matches with each other, so it ends in a tie. … We did have medalist from Valley Center in each division, which is great."

Abby Musgrove (VC Purple) won No. 2 singles. Abby Sheahan (VC Gold) was second in No. 1 singles. In doubles, the No. 1 team from VC Gold, Melissa Arnold and Katie Youngers, also finished second. The No. 2 doubles team from VC Purple, Olivia Logan and Katelynn Owens, were third.

At No. 1 singles, Victoria Bishop (VCP) beat Maize 6-0, lost 6-2 to Eisenhower and defeated Hutchinson 6-0 for fifth. Sheahan (VCG) beat Hutchinson 6-0, lost 6-3 to Goddard, and then defeated Newton 6-0 and Andover 6-0 for third.

At No. 2 singles, Musgrove (VCP) shut out Andover 6-0, downed Maize 6-1, blanked Eisenhower 6-0 and Hutchison 6-0 in the championship match. Jordan Truman (VCG) lost 6-0 to Hutchinson, won 6-5 over Goddard, won 6-2 over Newton and lost 6-2 to Maize for fourth.

At No. 1 doubles, Kara Harden and Madison Isham (VCP) lost 6-2 to Andover and 6-3 to Eisenhower before beating Goddard 6-3 for seventh. Arnold and Youngers (VCG) edged Hutchison 6-5 and Goddard 5-4, beat Maize South 6-2 and lost 6-3 to Andover for second.

At No. 2 doubles, Logan and Owens (VCP) lost 6-3 to Andover, shut out Maize 6-0, lost 6-1 to Eisenhower and downed Hutchison 6-2 for third. Cady Ciesielshki and Alli Schul (VCG) lost 6-5 to both Hutchinson and Goddard, lost 6-4 to Maize South, beat Newton 6-2 and lost 6-3 to Maize for eighth.

At Goddard, Valley Center tied with the host Lions but lost the tiebreaker to finish second. Both the Lions and the Hornets accumulated 15 points, narrowly acing out third-place Ark City with 13. Kapaun Mt. Carmel was fourth with 11 points, followed by Eisenhower and Hesston.

"We tied Goddard in points, but lost head to head to them 2-1 in matches played against them," Klusener said. "All the girls medaled, so it was a good day of tennis."

Musgrove was the top finisher for the Hornets, going 3-0 to win No. 2 singles. Bishop at No. 2 singles, while the doubles teams of Harden and Isham (No. 1) and Arnold and Owens (No. 2), all placed third with identical 2-1 records.

Musgrove blanked both of her pool play opponents, Ark City and Hesston, by a 6-0 score. She then defeated Eisenhower in the championship match.

Bishop lost a close 6-5 (11-10) match to Goddard and beat Ark City 6-1. She was a 6-3 winner in the third-place match against Eisenhower.

Harden and Isham lost 6-4 to Ark City and defeated Hesston 6-4. A 6-2 win over Goddard gave them third place.

Arnold and Owens edged Hesston 6-4 but lost 6-3 to Goddard. In the third-place match, they bounced Kapaun 6-3.