Ark Valley News - Three Hornets qualify for state tennis

Victoria Bishop hits the ball against Andover.

Three Hornets qualify for state tennis
By Randy Fisher
Last Updated: October 12, 2017

For the fourth straight year, Rachel Binau earned a berth in the Class 5A state tennis tournament. She and her doubles partner, junior Jessica Sharp, qualified as a team for the third time after placing third in the Oct. 7 regional at Salina Central High School.

Joining them at state will be senior Victoria Bishop, Valley's No. 1 singles player, who was fifth at regionals. She qualified for the first time after narrowly missing out last year.

“I felt really happy that I finally qualified for state," Bishop said. “I had tried so hard for so long to get there. It was amazing to be able to be there, to be able to do it."

Binau, a senior, is the second four-time state qualifier at Valley Center High School.

“It seems crazy because there's been girls tennis for so long, and I'm just the second one," she said.

For Sharp, she was pleased to see the result of her efforts.

“Overall, it's just a great feeling to know that all of the hard work I've put in is paying off," she said.

Salina Central won the team title with 17 points, followed by Salina South with 15, Valley Center 9, Andover 8, Newton 7, and Great Bend and Wichita Heights each had 1.

Bishop was seeded fifth and finished fifth. She defeated Ashley Schmidt (NEW) 6-2, 6-1; lost to Emma Sinclair (AND) 1-6, 2-6; defeated Hannah Weers (AND) 6-3, 6-2; and beat Kennedy Herbel (SS) 6-3, 6-1.

Megan Jones was seeded 10th. She lost her only match to Gentry Schneider (GB) 0-6, 5-7.

“Megan was too nervous to start and when she began to play it was too late," coach Dean Schulz said.

In doubles, Binau and Sharp were seeded fourth and finished third. They defeated Nieto/Folkerts (GB) 6-0, 6-0 and Coleman/Zamecnik (SS) 7-5, 6-2; lost to Normai/Rhodes (NEW) 4-6, 2-6; then beat Coleman/McAdoo (SS) 6-4, 6-1.

Madison Isham and Kara Harden were seeded 10th. They defeated Aune/Crumrine (AND) 4-6, 6-2, 10-6 and lost to Stack/Holgerson (SC) 1-6, 6-7 (5) and  Kavanagh/Michaelis (SC) 5-7, 3-6.

“Madison and Kara played in spurts coming from behind to defeat Andover's No. 2 team," Schulz said. “I told them they could beat them (No. 2 seed Salina Central) if they played steady and to their potential, but they didn't believe me till the second set. They came from behind 1-5 to lose in a close tiebreaker. Their next match was Salina Central's No. 2 team, which we could have beaten but had too many unforced errors and ended up losing a close match."

Bishop is looking forward to the tournament and all it has to offer.

“I want to enjoy the moment, but I really want to try hard and do my best," she said.

Binau and Sharp hope, at the least, to have fun in their last go-round together.

“We don't want to stress or be nervous," Sharp said. “We just want to have all the fun time we can together, this being our last year together."

“It's our last year," Binau said. “I want to do well, but if we don't, I want to make sure we have a great time."

JV third at league — Valley's junior varsity finished third at the AVCTL II  meet Oct. 2. Ark City won with 39 points. Then came Andover with 31 points, Valley Center 27, Goddard 24, Andover Central 23, Eisenhower 22 and Maize South 18.

In doubles, Jacque Toews and Mallory Feather lost 9-5 to Nguyen/Hoang (GD), then defeated Brown/O'Brien (MZS) 9-1 and teammates Alex Barbour and Kassie Kinniburgh 9-4 for fifth.

Barbour and Kinniburgh beat Hyatt/Graber (EIS) 9-8 (3); lost 9-3 to Kanelakos/Westhoff (ARK) and lost 9-4 to teammates Toews and Feather to finish sixth.

In singles, Sophia McNiel lost 9-5 to Tee (AND) and 9-2 to Pfaff (EIS), then defeated Petersburg (GD) 9-5 for seventh.

Alli Schul lost 9-8 (7) to Weers (AND), defeated Fairbanks (MZS) 9-2; lost 9-8 (5) to Nulik (ARK) and beat Flynn (ANDC) 9-1 for 11th place.