Ark Valley News - Hornet tennis team wins home quad

Hornet tennis team wins home quad
By Randy Fisher
Last Updated: September 07, 2017

It's been a busy week for Valley Center High School tennis. The varsity hosted a quad Sept. 5, played at Salina Central Sept. 2 and split its squad Aug. 31 between McPherson and Emporia.

Valley Center nipped Eisenhower 15-14 to win its own quad Sept. 5. Salina South was third with 10 points, and Maize had 8.

Each of Valley's doubles teams took first.

At No. 1, Rachel Binau and Jessica Sharp beat Cauthon/Cutler (MZ) 8-1, Coleman/Coleman (SS) 8-2 and Taylor/Beauchamp (EIS) 8-1. At No 2, Madison Isham and Kara Harden defeated Canupp/Davenport (MZ) 8-4, Franco/Rivera (SS) 8-3 and Reiswig/Bozarth (EIS) 8-2.

Both singles players placed third.

At No. 1, Victoria Bishop lost 8-2 to Kalysta Dohlman (MZ), beat Hannah Mertz (SS) 8-1 and lost 8-3 to Amy Truong (EIS). At No. 2, Megan Jones beat Alyssa Miller (MZ) 8-7 (4), lost 8-1 to Alexxa Nunemaker (SS) and lost 8-0 to Kelly Truong (EIS).

“Doubles looked good today, but not great. No 1's need to work on serves, and No. 2's need to work on footwork finishing shots," coach Dean Schulz said. “Singles is still a work in progress. I think we can continue to improve; we just need to think through shots and have a plan for each match."

It was a long day at Salina Central, as the Hornets were last. With 21 points, the host Mustangs edged St. Thomas Aquinas' 19 points for the top spot. Ark City had 16 points, followed by Salina South with 12 and Valley Center with 2.

“Singles did not play well all day; doubles was a little better," Schulz said. “(Alex) Barbour and (Kassie) Kinniburgh gave the best effort, in my opinion, but the others had some close matches that I thought we could have won if we had a little more energy."

Barbour and Kinniburgh were the only Hornets to win, going 2-2 at No. 2 doubles. They lost 8-3 to Hassler/Kavanagh (SC), defeated Zamecnik/Warren (SS) 8-4 and Dunn/Derley (STA) 8-3, but lost 8-2 to Walker/McChristian (ARK).

At No. 1 doubles, Mallory Feather and Jacque Toews lost 8-1 to Stack/Holgerson (SC), 8-5 to both Coleman/Coleman (SS) and to Law/Hanrahan (STA), and 8-0 to Burr/Weathers (ARK).

At No. 3 doubles, Katelyn Owens and Alli Schul lost 8-1 to Michaelis/Phelps (SC), 8-6 to Franco/Nunemaker (SS), 8-4 to Budetti/Jenkins (STA) and 8-1 to Kanelakos/Westhoff (ARK).

At No. 1 singles, Jones lost 8-4 to Karley Benson (SC), and 8-1 to both Sydney McAdoo (SS), Kate Marshall (STA) and Josie Hoag (ARK).

At No. 2 singles, Sophia McNiel lost 8-2 to both Callie Sanborn (SC) and Robyn Logan (SS), and 8-1 to both Taylor Smart (STA) and Jacey Arnett (ARK).

At No. 3 singles, Caroline Norman lost 8-1 to Brooke Shirley (SC), 8-0 to both Kennedy Herbel (SS) and Nelle Black (STA), and 8-1 to Livian Eaton (ARK).

At No. 4 singles, Cade Ciesielski lost 8-0 to Emery Newton (SC), 8-1 to Sarah McAllister (SS), and 8-0 to both Abby Brown (STA) and Ellie Messenger (ARK).

The Hornets were second in team points at McPherson. The Bullpups had 50 points, followed by Valley Center with 41, Derby 39, Eisenhower 32, Newton 28, Great Bend 18 and Elyria Christian Academy 14.

Binau and Sharp won at No. 1 doubles. After a first-round bye, they defeated Reiswig/Bozarth (EIS) 8-0, Carlson/Achilles (McP) 8-2 and Bruce/Allen (McP) 8-2.

No. 2 doubles saw Feather and Toews place fifth. They beat Folkerts/Nieto (GB) 8-2, lost 8-0 to Bruce/Allen (McP), then defeated Rhodes/Arrowsmith (NT) 8-6 and Reiswig/Bozarth (EIS) 8-3.

At No. 1 singles, Bishop lost to Derby's Mia Agpoon 8-4 but bounced back with three straight wins. She beat Gentry Schneider (GB) 8-6, Katie Carr (EIS) 8-1 and Addison Ingram (GB) 8-1 to finish ninth.

At No. 2 singles, Owens defeated Kenzie Gillespie 8-5, lost to Maisie Edmonson (McP) 8-0, lost to Kelly Truong (EIS) 8-0, lost to Daphane Carrillo (McP) 8-0 for eighth.

“We have some issues that we need to work on, but we are making progress," Schulz said.

At Emporia, the Hornets were fourth out of nine teams. De Soto won with 31 points beating out Andover Central with 28. Then came Maize South with 26 points, Valley Center 24, Emporia 23, Olathe West 14, Ottawa 14, Classic School of Wichita 9 and Shawnee Heights 7.

The first round was made up of three pools of three teams each. The winners of each pool moved on to a second pool to determine the first three places. The same thing occurred for the second- and third-place finishers from the first-round pools.

Valley's No. 1 doubles team of Madison Isham and Kara Harden finished second. They beat

Ramsdell/Bodenhausen (DS) 8-3, Green/Armstrong (CSW) 8-5, Heer/Bedford (DS) 8-6 but lost to Sellens/Zorn (MS) 8-7 (6).

“Madison and Kara had a close match with Maize South's regular No. 2 doubles," Schulz said. “It was tied 6-6 in the breaker before two unforced errors lost the match."

Valley's No. 2 doubles team of Barbour and Kinniburgh lost a tiebreak to finish third. They defeated Irsik/Cabrera (EMP) 8-1, Shanfelt/Darrah (CSW) 8-3 and Haenggi/Chaney (AC) 8-5, before losing 8-4 to Brown/Bally (MS). That created three-way tie for first, and the Hornets lost the tiebreak percentage.

“Alex and Kassie stepped up at the No. 2 varsity spot and made a great showing for themselves," Schulz said.

McNiel played No. 2 singles and finished fifth. She opened with an 8-2 loss to De Soto's

Bailey Ramsdell, beat Sarah Glosson (CSW) 8-0, lost 8-2 to Koey James (EMP) and beat Amber Fields (OTT) 8-2.

“Sophia keeps working on improving," Schulz said. “She is always positive and a pleasure to coach."

Jones played No. 1 singles for the hornets. She lost 8-0 to Issa Sullivan of De Soto who was third at state last year as a freshman. Jones beat Olivia Martinez (CSW) 8-4, lost 8-0 to Melissa Benjamin (EMP) and 8-3 to Tijen Jones (OW) to finish sixth.

“I knew that Megan would have a very difficult day, but she weathered the storm and continued to work on improving her … game," Schulz said.

JV also busy — The junior varsity played in a quad Sept. 2 at Conway Springs, a tournament Aug. 29 at McPherson and hosted Maize in a dual Aug. 28.

At Conway Springs, the host team and the Classical School of Wichita tied with 18 points. Trinity Academy had 6 points and the Hornets 2.

“I took three freshmen and a sophomore, so we gained valuable experience," JV coach Matt Klusener said. “We didn't win any medals, but the effort was great."

Alyssa Bolin scored Valley's only points of the day at No. 1 singles. She lost 8-4 to Shelby Green of the Classical School, beat Trinity's Gabby Winter 8-3 and lost 8-1 to Mallory Gillepsie of Conway Springs.

Valley's No. 2 singles player, Jazmin Rios, lost 8-3 to the Classical School's Allison Witherspoon, 8-1 to Trinity's Carolline List and 8-1 to Lucy Boyles of Conway Springs.

At No. 1 doubles, Chloe Martens and Lindsay Isham lost 9-7 to Armstrong/Darrah of the Classical School and 9-5 to Berntsen/Bender of Conway Springs. Trinity did not field a No. 1 doubles, and the Hornets did not field a No. 2 doubles.

Valley Center finished sixth out of 10 teams at McPherson.

Buhler took top honors with 54 points, easily outdistancing runner-up Campus with 35. The hosts Bullpups were third with 33 points, edging Salina Central with 32 and Smoky Valley with 31. Rounding out the rest of the field were Valley Center with 24, Elyria Christian 24, Great Bend 17, Hutchinson 10 and Hesston 7.

Kluesner said the Hornets had good effort all the way around.

“This was a very competitive tournament in both singles and doubles, but the doubles field was stronger overall," Kluesner said.

Singles players Jones (No. 1) and Martens (No. 2) each placed fourth.

Jones beat Baylee Wolf (SV) 6-2, lost 6-1 to Jacie Myers (McP) and defeated Anna Popp (GB) 6-3 and Alexia Boles (HES) 6-1. She lost 6-2 to Gretchen Holmes of Buhler in the third-place match.

Martens narrowly lost 6-5 to Jada Featherby (CAM), then beat Linda Heidner (HUT) and Heather Schriner (SV) by identical scores of 6-2, but lost 6-3 to Caitlyn Sanders (BUH). She fell 6-2 in the third-place match to Emily Jones of Smoky Valley.

Each doubles team ended with a win.

At No. 2 doubles, Lindsay Isham and Bolin lost 6-2 to Warner/Teaufel (BUH) and 6-1 to Snapp/Ramirez (GB) before winning 6-4 over Faulk/Mierkiewicz (McP) and 6-5 over Vogel/Pankratz (HUT). They defeated Robinson/White (SC) 6-4 to finish seventh.

At No. 1 doubles, Norman and Natalie Logan lost 6-5 to Pedersen/Babcock (BUH) and 6-1 to Strickland/Wittig (GB), beat Nelson/Archer (ELY) 6-5 but lost 6-3 to Williams/Schmidt (McP). They edged Martin/Gages (HES) 6-5 for ninth.

Valley went 2-7 in the Maize dual, with both victories coming in singles. Bolin won 6-5 (7-2) and Ciesielski won 6-4. Playing doubles were Lindsay Isham and Bowlin, Ciesielski and Katelyn Babcock, and Hailey McCartney and Rios.

“It was a great opportunity for our girls to get some competitive experience," Klusener said.