The Hillsboro High School girls’ tennis team placed eighth out of eight teams at the Smoky Valley High School Tennis Invitational on Thursday in Lindsborg, although the competition included much larger schools such as McPherson and Abilene. The tournament wasn’t divided into No. 1 and No. 2 brackets.
Allison Weber placed fifth out of 15 singles players, beginning with an 8-1 victory against Rachel Sutter of Chapman. She dropped her next match to Breanna Schartz of Central Plains, 8-7 in an 8-4 tiebreaker. She finished with victories over Madison Hoffman of McPherson, 8-7 in a 7-2 tiebreaker, and Annie Reinert of Smoky Valley, 8-2.
Allison Gray started out with losses to Shelbi Mathis of Chapman, 8-1, and Krystina Enslinger of Trinity Catholic of Hutchinson, 8-2, before receiving a bye, and finally losing to Abby Decker of Hesston, 8-3. Gray finished in 14th place.
Erin Winter and Peyton Loewen placed 14th out of 16 duos in doubles. They lost to Chapman in the first round, 8-3, and Trinity Catholic in the second round, 8-7 with a 7-2 tiebreak. They defeated HHS teammates Claire Heyen and Bailey Kaufman, 8-5, before losing to Trinity Catholic, 8-4.
Heyen and Kaufman were winless in the tournament, losing to Central Plains, 8-1; Smoky Valley, 8-1; Winter and Loewen, 8-5; and McPherson, 8-5.
Hesston Invitational
HHS competed at the Hesston Invitational on Saturday.
Weber defeated Cora Anderson of Wichita Independent, 8-5 in singles. She lost to Ali Anderson of Hesston, 8-0, then defeated Jessica Van Ranken of Smoky Valley for third place, 8-7 (7-4 tiebreaker).
Coach Bob Woelk described Weber’s victory over Van Ranken as the match of the year for Hillsboro players. In addition to it being a great match on its own merits, it could have important implications for seeding at regionals.
Bailey Kaufman placed seventh in No. 2 singles. She lost to McKenna Hammeke of Central Plains, 8-2; and Renee McBride of Wichita Independent, 8-6.
In No. 1 doubles, Erin Winter and Peyton Loewen lost matches against two Hesston teams, 8-0 and 8-1, and Wichita Independent, 8-1.